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The Brutal Truth About Doing Everything on Your Indie Film Set · Indie Film Podcast

0:00
Welcome to Indie Film Podcast. This week we have superstar
0:03
guest Cody Newton, who travels the country as an indie film
0:06
cinematographer. Yes, I do.
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And he also directs. On top of working hard on
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countless indie film sets, he hosts the annual Idaho Film
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Family Festival every spring. And it doesn't stop there.
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Cody is also an actor, an editor, obviously director and.
0:25
Writer. You do write most of your
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scripts. You are definitely a producer
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too, and frankly also has to do a lot of marketing, handles a
0:33
lot of stunt work creatively, problem solves a lot of
0:36
different stuff. You've scouted locations, you've
0:38
gaffed, you've done everything under the sun.
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So thanks so much for being here, Cody.
0:43
Well, it's so great to be here. I've lived my life so I don't
0:45
have to depend on anyone else to do anything for me.
0:48
Have you ever done makes it that much cheaper?
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Have you ever done a solo film just you?
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Just, well, nobody can do a solo film.
0:54
Well, I guess you guys kind of did, but I have to have actors
0:58
in front of the camera. Well, I mean like, act it
1:00
yourself, run the camera yourself.
1:01
No, no. No, that's too boring for me.
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I've always had family around me.
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We're a big Mormon family, so I've always had nieces and
1:08
nephews that I've wanted to shoot.
1:09
And then that's kind of where I started, so.
1:11
Right on. So let's talk about big budget
1:14
versus low budget. One of the things that kind of
1:18
differentiates usually an indie film from a large budget film is
1:23
the look, right? Obviously look and sound super
1:25
important. That's something that that
1:27
people miss. You've been able to teach
1:30
yourself. I think you taught yourself how
1:32
to basically run camera and gaff, and you've gotten to the
1:36
point where your productions can be put up with anything in the
1:41
realm, you know of, of a large budget feature film, right?
1:46
So what advantages do you think that an indie film has over a
1:51
large budget Hollywood production as far as you know?
1:55
I'm sure you've worked on sets where you are cinematographer
1:57
and gaffer versus sets now as you've gotten more and more work
2:01
where you have probably a much larger camera department.
2:04
Can you explain to some people out there that are just starting
2:08
out what the advantages of the large set versus a small set
2:10
are? Well, one of the big well, I'm
2:12
kind of a small set person. I just like it to be familiar.
2:17
I like people to be friends afterwards, you know, that type
2:20
of stuff. On the larger sets.
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Here's a couple of the problems. Everyone's trying to blame
2:24
another department for their problems.
2:26
And that happens between, oh, they weren't told this, They
2:29
weren't. And it all comes down to
2:30
communication because people aren't able to talk to that many
2:33
people at one time. Whereas if you have a small set,
2:36
it's like, hey, you have, you have 5 people shooting your
2:39
film. It's pretty easy to say, hey,
2:41
we're going to, we're going to start here tomorrow at 8:00 AM.
2:45
We don't need a huge coffee to be able to tell those people
2:47
those things, you know? So that takes out a lot of the
2:49
time and effort. But the other big thing with,
2:52
with large sets are the unions. The unions are a are a mess to
2:57
deal with because most of your money like SAG, if you ever done
3:00
a SAG film, I mean like 20% of your money goes to the union and
3:04
it's just like it, it will cripple an indie film like that.
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And even just the attitude of the people, all they can think
3:13
of is, well, the workers. The, the union workers is what
3:17
does the set owe me or what is the production owe me versus on
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indie films, the smaller films, it's what can I do for the
3:27
production. So those are the main things
3:29
that I think that I've noticed between the large and the small.
3:32
OK, that's good to know. And we should probably clarify
3:35
this too. You, I met you 9 years ago here
3:38
in the Boise film scene. We were just talking about this.
3:40
You shot, you shot a film on your phone and it was not an
3:44
iPhone. And you've gone from that
3:46
position to essentially now you are working professionally as a
3:52
cinematographer for, I mean, I don't know what type of budget
3:56
films you would call it. Definitely low, not micro, but
4:00
low. Going to higher.
4:01
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Going from zero budget on your
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own productions to basically travelling around the country
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and shooting things, editing, all that stuff.
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So that's kind of what your history is.
4:12
Very briefly, what did I miss there that you'd like to add?
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I mean, I I shoot about 6 movies for other people every year and
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yeah, I'm trying to do one in every state and we're, it's
4:23
going pretty well. I just got back from
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Pennsylvania and Ohio where I shot 2 films out there, but I
4:30
try and direct a movie of my own every year.
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And so that's going to be happening.
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And the good thing about working on so many sets as you learn so
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much from other people on their dime.
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So you know, whether or not I'm getting paid as much as I should
4:43
be paid no matter what, it's a great experience when I come out
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of it. And the the budgets range from,
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I mean, I did one for 35,000. It was a $35,000 feature in
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eight days to, I mean, we, we produced the Death of Snow
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White, which was a 20 day shoot and then $750,000.
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OK, that one got a theatrical release and is now streaming.
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But you can, you can kind of see that's the range that I live in.
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I mean, I'd love to do the higher stuff, but then you start
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to run into the, well, why wouldn't the hire somewhere
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else, you know? OK.
5:16
So can you tell us a little bit about maybe?
5:19
So we're talking about wearing all the hats for this, for this
5:24
month, for the month of August on Indie Film Podcast.
5:26
And you have obviously worn a lot of hats and you have gone
5:31
down one specific path, I would imagine working with other
5:33
people because that has allowed you to essentially stop other
5:37
work and work as a cinematographer mostly, Yeah.
5:41
And. That's the time it's DP, yeah.
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OK. And then also you do a lot of
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editing as well, correct? I do only for myself.
5:47
I I kind of made that problem because I can never charge as
5:50
much as I need to get paid to edit because it just takes so
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much time and then there's so much feedback and then it's just
5:56
over and over again. So I've limited that a little
5:58
bit unless I'm in a real bind for money.
6:00
But most of the time I'm just cinematographer because that is
6:04
where I can have the most impact into the movie.
6:07
And the secret be told most of the time these movies like star
6:12
the director. And so when the director is
6:14
acting, I can step in and direct for them.
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OK. And so that's, that's really a
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big plus to me being on set with them is I shoot for the edit,
6:24
but I also can help direct them when they're in it.
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So then, sorry, I'm going to jump in here.
6:28
Yeah, specifically you mentioned you want to direct one of your
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own films every single year. So do you go looking for ADP or
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do you handle both? Do you?
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Do you like to do both at the same time?
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It's, it's a little hard, right? Because we are talking about
6:46
hats and if I have to manage what the DP is doing and how
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they're doing it, then why don't I just DP it?
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You know, it just that just makes more sense to me because
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then I don't have to then I just have to communicate, Hey, put
7:01
these lights here and I'm going to go for the shot instead of me
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saying, Hey, try and get this shot that I'm envisioning in my
7:06
head. And so a lot of times it's
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faster. So OK, here's one of the
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examples. In 2023 summer, we just we shot
7:15
259, my latest feature film. And it it was, it was a story
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actually based on the story of my DP.
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His name is Ryan and he dealt with like a possession in his
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apartment complex in 22,009 or something like that.
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And when you say possession, you mean demonic, satanic something
7:39
entity? Yeah.
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Something was possessing his neighbor and he was trying to
7:44
help him. And there's just so many
7:45
stories. So the first half of 259
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actually is Ryan's story. And so I knew, hey, I didn't,
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you know, Ryan's going to DP this movie for me because it is
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his story. I wrote it and I put in my own
7:57
characters. And so we made it our own thing.
8:00
But he had to DP it and the first half of the movie we shot
8:06
in in Boise and it was not the easiest thing to figure out what
8:10
the shots were because I had to try and do it through other
8:13
people. Hey, somebody else is holding
8:15
the camera. So what's the shot going to be
8:17
here exactly? I don't know, figure it out or
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try and feel out what it is where normally when I'm holding
8:24
the camera I can find it because I know what my limitations are
8:27
on lighting. What what you know it just I can
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feel it. So the first half of the movie,
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I didn't have the camera in my hand and I just watched from
8:35
video village and it just didn't work quite right for me.
8:40
It I think it was good, but it wasn't like, oh, this, this
8:45
moment needs to be felt this way with this push in.
8:48
We never got those moments. But then the second-half we went
8:51
up to Seattle to shoot a bunch of exteriors and like adventure
8:54
things. And it's the second-half of the
8:58
movie, but I became a camp. You know, Ryan was DP, but I
9:04
would just a camera operate and he would be camera operate.
9:07
And it went so much better because I knew, oh, this line of
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dialogue right here needs this little push in instead of having
9:15
to go back and go get it. I just knew instinctively how to
9:19
get the shots. And it wasn't, you know,
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sometimes we don't know how to communicate what we want or even
9:25
know what we want. But that is how I figured it
9:29
out. And so even sometimes if I'm
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talking to somebody who wears a lot of hats, but I want ADP
9:34
form, I tell him, hey, I want ADP for you.
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And I don't have to hold the camera.
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You can hold the camera because I know that's how you did it.
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There was 2. Recently, I worked with Tabor
9:46
Johnson recently, he did a movie called Bigfoot Falls and I was
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DP on it. But he operated the camera
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because that's kind of how he directed.
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He directed with the camera in a sense and so I did sound and so
10:00
it was a little weird to be DP because I'd set up all the
10:02
lights and I knew kind of the shots he was getting and I set
10:05
up the the camera and lenses and but I just let him shoot it.
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But that way the director is sort of without having to
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communicate to their actors like, hey, can you lean in a
10:13
little bit What they can just be there and lean in where they
10:16
want it. And even just having to
10:17
communicate through me as a camera operator, hey, try this
10:20
thing and no, he can just do it. He just made it go that much
10:25
smoother. So in some ways, if you do wear,
10:28
if you do wear a lot of hats, if you do it right, it can keep you
10:32
going quicker, it can get your vision a little bit better.
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But. It can also be done in the wrong
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way. Yeah, I suppose that's a
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delicate, A delicate balance. So having been on those larger
10:45
sets, is there anything that you could say was an immediate
10:48
advantage because you do come from a background of I'm just
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going to make a film, I'm going to attack it with whatever I
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have available to me, whether it be an iPhone or a really
10:58
expensive cinema camera, right? Or excuse me, not an iPhone, an
11:01
LG phone or a really expensive cinema camera.
11:04
So you come from that background, but but having also
11:08
worked on the larger sets, what are some of the advantages that
11:11
you do see? Like if the communication is
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removed from that situation and say you do have ADP, that or
11:17
excuse me, an AD that can communicate things to everybody
11:20
succinctly. Yeah, that's, I mean that's the
11:23
secret is having that line of communication that just works.
11:25
Well, specifically there was one in Mississippi that I shot last
11:31
year called Tempest and we had a great ADI believe was the AD
11:34
from Get Out I want to say. Oh nice.
11:38
You know, we had a focus puller that was like he ran down to
11:42
shoot the second. I forget what movie that is.
11:48
It's the documentary about the Stonehenge guitar playing shoot.
11:54
I can't think of the name of the.
11:55
Stonehenge guitar playing. Spinal tab Spinal Tab 2 Yeah, he
11:58
had to run down to spinal tab and shoot.
12:00
I knew Tab 2 Stonehenge guitar playing.
12:02
How did you it's? The best joke in the movie,
12:05
that's why. Oh, OK.
12:07
All right. So I mean, we had a great team,
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but the communication was there and they knew how to communicate
12:15
and that's where it really does come through because you get the
12:18
quality of the larger groups without sacrificing some of the
12:24
time and stuff like that. I mean, it's just like, boom,
12:28
they hit cut and everyone knows exactly where to go and how to
12:31
do it. But that one specifically had
12:34
the drama of the unions where they had union people and they
12:38
said, oh, in our contract we didn't know we're going to be
12:39
working an extra day. And then we had like a full on
12:42
meeting on whether or not we're going to shoot 5 days or six
12:44
days a week. And I was like, oh man, this is
12:47
a pretty heavy stuff. A lot of bureaucracy, yeah.
12:50
But when it's done right, you're, you want your sets to be
12:53
run like that? Yeah, I mean, you want to.
12:55
Run the large. Groups, you know the the.
12:58
Another good example is when you have a script come out and you
13:00
have a rewrite, the script changes colors so you know where
13:04
you're at, you know, in the updates of the scripts instead
13:07
of going, hey, what what script is this?
13:10
This is, oh, this is July 2nd. Well, we're on July 31st.
13:13
You know, they have different colors.
13:14
So you know Wizards are going to be which.
13:16
I have never been on a large. I've done A1 set where I was on
13:20
a commercial shoot with a whole bunch of people, but I've never
13:21
worked on narrative film where it was a very large set.
13:24
So how did that work? Was it the like the colors of
13:26
the rainbow went from blue to red, meaning that like red is
13:29
like we can't do any more drafts?
13:30
I don't remember. The shades I remember, the
13:33
colors I know, there I saw. There's like a blue revision and
13:36
then a pink revision and then like you have they, they're
13:39
usually softer colours because like at one point, to my
13:43
knowledge and my understanding, they actually printed them on
13:46
those colours of paper. So it had to be a soft enough
13:48
colour that you could still read the print on it.
13:51
At least the copy of the the lethal weapon fore script that I
13:54
had was was in line with all. Of that so everybody needed to
13:57
have the same colour. Otherwise if you looked around
13:59
and you were the buffoon holding like 1 sheet of paper.
14:02
You're holding blue. And everyone's, they're like,
14:04
you need to be updated. Yeah, that makes sense.
14:06
And then are they color blind friendly too?
14:08
That would be. You know, I hope that nowadays
14:11
they would be, but I actually don't know if they, I don't know
14:13
if they actually put them on the colored paper anymore.
14:16
I think it just says blue or pink revision.
14:18
You want to illuminate communication as much as
14:20
possible to keep things efficient.
14:21
Well, everyone has their script digitally now.
14:23
That's true. Whatever it's about, yeah.
14:26
You have to put a different case on your iPad.
14:28
That's right. When you've downloaded the
14:32
updated script, you need to put a blue case on the back of your
14:34
iPad. So we own those.
14:35
You're reading from the correct version.
14:37
I suppose if it's a Google Doc and like you're the only one
14:40
like on the document might be like okay that.
14:44
Might tell you. Unless there's no Wi-Fi or 5G in
14:47
the place. All right, we totally got
14:49
sidetracked, Cody, but. So you were saying right on top.
14:53
Yeah. So scripts working on a large
14:56
set, and obviously there are huge advantages to that.
14:59
Yeah, and that's The thing is I've been on enough sets to just
15:02
learn what I wanna do on mine. I mean, when I say, oh, I taught
15:06
myself, No, I mean, I, I learned from the mistakes of other
15:10
people and of myself. Yeah, as as we went.
15:13
But when I started, when nine years ago, you know, I, I tried
15:16
to be on every set I could. And you guys were on some of my
15:19
sets. We made a film together.
15:20
Remember that? Oh, yeah.
15:22
And we learned lots of stuff. We shot in that six hours. 3
15:25
camera shoot. Super fast.
15:27
Dang. And it's and it's stupid and
15:30
it's funny and. I like it.
15:32
Wait, that's the house party with the talking Yep thing?
15:38
Two truths and a lie. It's called truths.
15:39
That's it, truths, that's it. Yeah, that was, that was fun.
15:43
It was. 01 is cute. That is one of those things,
15:45
yeah, it's good to get out there and and be on a lot of sets.
15:48
I guess when I say self-taught, that's a incorrect way of saying
15:53
rather than having gone to film school, sometimes it's good to
15:56
just go out and and do things. Although film school, I'm sure
15:59
they teach you a lot of valuable information.
16:00
I wouldn't know. I've never been.
16:02
Apparently they don't teach you anything about the marketing or
16:05
business side of it. Oh, that's going to lead into a
16:08
question that I was just about to ask Cody.
16:10
How do you balance efforts between roles you enjoy and
16:13
roles that you? Hate.
16:14
Oh my goodness. OK, well, first of all, self
16:17
motivation is very important because I am an entrepreneur.
16:20
You know, in general, I have to think of myself as an
16:23
entrepreneur first and not a filmmaker first because I have
16:26
to make the money, I have to pay the bills.
16:28
And so that's why you're going to see me on all the socials
16:32
marketing myself the certain way I do because I have to be able
16:36
to get the jobs. So balancing some of that stuff
16:39
is a little bit hard because first of all, you don't know
16:43
what you're doing, right? You have to say, I mean, when I
16:47
started out, I was like, Hey, you want to be PA?
16:48
Sure, I'll be APA. But then, and here's the funny
16:52
one, there was AI went to work on the chosen the TV show and
16:57
they said, Hey, we need an accounting clerk.
16:59
And I was like, what Sure, I could do that.
17:03
You know, I have my MBA so I'm like, I have look at my IMDb,
17:07
but I also have my MBA. I'm sure that I could do your
17:10
how? Hard can this be for a masters
17:12
and business administration? It's just.
17:13
Spreadsheets and scanning in things.
17:15
But you know what? I worked on that movie, that
17:17
show for 40 days, and I learned so much in that production
17:22
office because I was right next to producers, you know, the
17:25
director and the accountants. And I got to see everything that
17:29
came in. I got to see everything that
17:31
went out, how much they paid for everything on it.
17:34
And that really shaped how I looked at all of my things and
17:37
what even the possibilities of what I could do.
17:39
Because that's a $10 million show and they're just doing it
17:43
on Kickstarter. I know they have.
17:45
That's what they raise on Kickstarter.
17:46
I know they have extra people, but even just taking that and
17:51
saying, well, I can, I can implement that into my
17:54
accounting or my budgeting or or whatnot, or even just how I sell
17:58
myself as a cinematographer. Just seeing what that
18:00
cinematographer made and how he made his money.
18:03
You. Know, OK, but wait, what was the
18:05
number one most surprising budget thing that you saw?
18:08
It was art department. Well, because it's a period
18:10
piece. I mean, it's in Jerusalem.
18:13
So art department just trumped everything.
18:16
That makes sense. That's very fair.
18:18
I've seen, I've seen a couple episodes, but it's streaming on
18:20
Amazon, I want to say. And that's just the story of the
18:23
elongated story of Jesus. Yeah, yeah.
18:25
And it's pretty much everywhere. It was on Netflix and stuff
18:27
like. That OK, OK, Yeah, it's but
18:28
yeah, it looks legit, yeah. That's impressive.
18:33
OK, All right. Our that's fair.
18:35
Our department does deserve a good budget.
18:37
OK. So in general, you're gonna face
18:40
things you don't know how to do. And those things will demotivate
18:44
you as fast as anything, right? Because we live in the YouTube
18:47
generation where it's like, yeah, I need, I need to do this.
18:50
Let me fix it by looking on YouTube.
18:54
And if you don't have an answer on there, or even if it takes
18:56
longer than 15 minutes to find, you're going to go, oh, there's
18:59
no answer. How do I do this?
19:01
And so I mean, marketing yourself and marketing your
19:05
movie is something that, well, number one, it's, it's adapting
19:09
like who knows what it's going to be in a year?
19:11
You don't know what movies are going to be in a year and how
19:13
what they're worth. Especially with AI, it's getting
19:16
wild. Geez, I actually think that'll
19:19
boost us a little bit. But if we make real content,
19:21
yeah, yeah. The stories in the film, I feel
19:24
like stories number one no matter what you do.
19:26
I'm talking about people using AI as a bigger search tool than
19:31
most social or search engine algorithms now.
19:34
So that is true. But as soon as they allow
19:37
advertising on AI platforms, it's going to get real weird,
19:40
yeah. Wow.
19:41
Yeah, I. Don't even want to think about
19:43
this. That's.
19:44
Going to be that's going to be messed up.
19:45
It's coming, don't worry. Well, how do I light this theme?
19:48
First, you need to buy a Sony FX-9.
19:51
That's right. And then you won't have to light
19:54
it. It's just, it's just your
19:57
equipment. You don't have enough equipment.
19:59
So you can't go to the hardware store and pick up a light.
20:01
You need to get by this aperture whatever.
20:04
For your, I'm already targeted like that already.
20:06
Yeah, yeah. So.
20:08
In in all fairness, I should say, you know, just I wanted to
20:12
say that I have to motivate myself.
20:15
There is there's no discipline that's going to keep you going
20:18
when you don't want to do it. It it has to just be you wanting
20:24
to get it done. And so I self motivate in a
20:27
couple ways and I hopefully people can find their ways that
20:31
they do it because I can't just say, oh, I finished a movie, pat
20:34
myself on the back and that's it.
20:36
No, I've actually. Met Amphetamine?
20:37
Yeah, no, sorry. I'm a cool guy.
20:40
OK, good. That's pricey.
20:42
Man. You must be getting some pretty,
20:44
I mean cinematography games. What's on there?
20:46
It's. Film that's.
20:48
True, but it's just there. It's.
20:51
Party This might sound a little bit weird, but I actually reward
20:54
myself by buying myself Jordans. Like for every film that I'm
20:58
done filming or mine, you know, mine are the bigger Jordans.
21:01
But I buy myself Jordans so that I have that actual tangible like
21:06
thing that rewards myself for doing it.
21:09
This is your little treat, your little dopamine kick.
21:11
That's it. Nice.
21:12
Well then it connects that that that pair of shoes is connected
21:15
directly to the project that you made them too.
21:17
Oh, that's kind of cool. And I.
21:18
Do you? Shop for them before.
21:20
I do. Oh nice.
21:21
Yeah, because I, I get them on sale and stuff like that, but
21:24
then I have them like locked up I guess in my shelf and then I
21:30
unlock them as I. That's a true entrepreneurial
21:35
spirit right there is like, you're going to buy that on
21:36
sale. You're going to make a decision,
21:38
buy it on sale for the correct price so that you're not
21:40
punishing your future self when they're not on sale.
21:42
That's right, leaving them locked.
21:43
Up be stuck with $250 pair of Gordons.
21:46
That's cool. I like that idea because usually
21:48
I buy myself like microphones or you know, like equipment.
21:52
But then the issue with that is that it's still connected to.
21:54
The thing that I'm doing this is.
21:56
Completely. It's not like a.
21:57
Outside. Yeah, this is totally outside of
22:00
what you do normally. You guys treat yourself to
22:03
something. Yeah, it's important.
22:05
Yeah. You know, and, and The funny
22:07
thing is I've, I've turned this into, I actually treat the
22:09
director and usually the person who hires me to a pair of
22:13
Jordans also. So it just becomes a cool like
22:16
thank you that cost, you know, you, you can usually get them
22:20
for like 75 bucks. OK, But brilliant way to keep
22:23
you and your work on the mind of directors.
22:26
That's brilliant. I was going to ask like what
22:29
does the networking process look like?
22:30
It looks like buying them shoes. It does.
22:32
Brilliant and. A lot of them have never had
22:34
Jordans before so. NBA kick it in salesmanship.
22:37
From there. I dig it.
22:40
So did you? Do you have anything else you
22:41
that you use to help yourself keep yourself motivated?
22:43
I mean checklist. I have to have my checklist
22:45
because when I wake up in the morning, I could literally do
22:49
nothing and I'd be happy with it and that's fine.
22:52
But if I'm trying to make my dreams come true, that's not
22:55
going to cut it. So I have to have small
22:58
actionable items that I am checking off.
23:01
Physically or digitally? I do it digitally just because I
23:06
lose those so quickly. But it's the you know, I usually
23:10
just send my instant messenger. Not instant messenger, but.
23:14
Facebook. Wow.
23:15
Wow. Date yourself back there a
23:17
little bit, Cody. And I actually delete it and
23:22
then or unsend it and then delete it and that's that.
23:25
I think that's the dopamine hit. OK, that's smart.
23:29
I think that because. Also I do like that one if I am
23:31
way behind. I know I like the, I like the
23:33
paperless because I like that feeling of actually checking it
23:36
off. Yeah.
23:37
And I like trying to draw like really perfect squares first,
23:42
but they never look right. Google Keep if you do a list at
23:45
like checks it off. I have that for my list of
23:48
movies that I'm supposed to watch and now TV shows that I'm
23:51
supposed to watch and all these things, yeah.
23:53
Always. You can never get ahead on
23:54
those. It just only gets longer.
23:56
Those lists only ever get longer when you work with film makers.
24:00
Fair, but I've been making a dent in it.
24:02
I think in the last. I started keeping the list three
24:06
years ago 3 1/2 and I've checked off 20 something movies from it
24:11
now. OK.
24:13
So I'm getting through it. The list is definitely longer.
24:16
It's grown by more than 20, But I'm at least working my way
24:19
through them. Yeah.
24:21
And I like that Google Keep keeps the list at the bottom.
24:23
So they get checked off and you have that list, You have
24:26
evidence. I feel accomplished.
24:28
This is what I've actually done on this.
24:29
It doesn't just disappear. Yeah.
24:32
One thing I want to talk about Cody, like like a couple
24:34
connected questions here because I do remember this would have
24:38
been I think you it was the previous podcast that we had
24:42
Treasure Valley podcast. You were you were interviewing,
24:45
we went out to lunch and you were just transitioning to doing
24:49
film full time, not your own films, but like basically
24:54
working on films, mostly narrative, I think at this
24:57
juncture. Correct.
24:59
Yeah. So like you'd had done weddings
25:01
or I don't remember where you were in this, in this step of
25:04
videography, the cinematography. But can you talk about a little
25:08
bit when you knew that transition was eminent?
25:12
And then how you balance out other people's work with your
25:17
work, which obviously you mentioned you want to make sure
25:19
you do one of your own films every year along with six of
25:22
other people. So that's good.
25:23
But maybe you can go into a little bit of detail on that as
25:24
well as what you think about like moving from doing other
25:29
work unrelated to film to just like diving in full time.
25:33
Yeah, essentially it was the transition from videographer to
25:36
actual cinematographer, OK? That was the big one.
25:38
Because when, Yeah, when when I started, I just said, hey, I'm
25:42
just going to make this work no matter what, OK?
25:44
Because the goal is 3 things. Support my family, make movies
25:47
and travel the world. If I can do all those things,
25:50
ideally with my family included, that would be a lot of fun, but
25:55
that was the goal from the get go.
25:57
If I if I can't make those things happen, then I got to go
26:00
find something else. So videography was very
26:03
important into that, you know, early stuff just because I
26:07
needed to make, I needed to be paid by people who had money.
26:11
And so I got connected with some businesses and did stuff for
26:14
them and and what not. And, and so that paid for a lot
26:17
of things. The weddings is another thing.
26:19
Real estate was another thing and so I felt like I had
26:23
transitioned by then. Since 2017, I've been doing this
26:27
full time and, and it does help that I, I just had been
26:31
networking and branding myself online so much that people knew
26:36
that I was of value. Plus as a tax write off, I was
26:40
buying all kinds of stuff. I was buying lights, I was
26:42
buying whatever I needed to do. So I wasn't paying so much in
26:45
taxes and and then I could carry that over into making myself
26:51
worth more, you know, because now I have a trailer that's full
26:54
of stuff. I mean, I probably have $100,000
26:56
worth of stuff that I bring with me to these places.
26:59
And I don't charge him an arm and a leg to be able to use it
27:03
because I just want the best product that we can get.
27:06
And I think that's why I'm hired over and over again.
27:09
But what it was is I started to make movies with a group in
27:14
Seattle with Jason Brooks and Sean Lutz's who did the death of
27:17
Snow White, and that was like our 7th movie together.
27:20
And once we started making movies together, there were just
27:23
connections that we're making that helped people want to work
27:29
with me again. And not only was it what I was
27:32
bringing to the table, but it was my attitude and my ability
27:35
to just listen to the film, listen to the soul of the film
27:39
and see what it needed without, you know, having to really work
27:44
at it. So once that started to happen,
27:47
people took notice. They saw my reel, they saw the
27:51
movies we were putting out, and they wanted to hire me.
27:54
And essentially, that is what happened, you know, four years
27:58
ago. We released three years ago, we
28:01
released a Jason fan film. I remember that and it's 2
28:05
Bloodlines and it just people loved it and it looked great.
28:09
And you know, little little people know that I directed half
28:12
of that film. You know, most of the time I was
28:14
directing because Jason was acting as Jason, you know, the
28:17
director was acting. So once I just, I wanted to be
28:22
the person and this was very important to me.
28:25
I wanted to be the person that people couldn't see themselves
28:28
without on their next set. You know, whether it be my
28:32
attitude, whether it be my work ethic or whether it be how I do
28:35
things like I, I don't know. Some of the bigger things.
28:38
I don't know exactly how other DPS do it.
28:41
But for me, there's a few things.
28:43
And here's a few tips as a cinematographer, when I shoot,
28:48
you know, I communicate very clearly.
28:50
I get great shots. Everything is on the table.
28:52
If you want to try and get it, I'll try and do it.
28:54
No matter what we there's always a way to do it now.
28:57
It's very brave of you. It is very but after you shoot
29:01
there's kind of a wind down period where people all they go
29:04
back and they talked about the day and what not.
29:06
When I my wind down is DITI go and I just make sure all the
29:09
footage is there. I check it over, I look it over.
29:12
It doesn't take me that long, but I actually create dailies.
29:16
And so we have dailies in our pocket the next day.
29:19
And so not only am I DP, but I'm DIT also.
29:22
And then technically I'm a script supervisor too because I
29:26
can see, oh, in this last scene we were, we were like right to
29:29
left. So this one needs to be right,
29:31
you know, left to right because it was a phone conversation and
29:34
this person shooting in a different day.
29:36
It just helps so much. And then I take a screenshot of
29:40
every setup so that I know, oh, it's lit this way, This is how
29:43
it looks. And so it's so easy to just pull
29:45
up the phone real quick and, and do that.
29:48
And it only takes me a few hours at the end of the night.
29:51
And I like the wind down with the actual footage itself.
29:55
And so it's just little things like that, that just, I mean, if
30:00
you think about it, you, you have to have a DP.
30:02
Well, I'm also a gaffer, so they would have to hire a gaffer,
30:06
they would have to hire ADIT and then they have to have an
30:08
assistant editor. I mean, I'm syncing, I'm syncing
30:11
the audio also. Oh, that's so it's.
30:13
So easy. To have it that way.
30:14
A relaxing evening for you. It's just syncing everything up
30:17
and. Because I have to download it
30:18
anyway. Oh, fair.
30:20
But I'm taking the place of five people in my day rate, you know,
30:23
and it just, those things are the invaluable things that
30:27
people wanted on their next set. And so now they are just they're
30:31
calling me whenever they they need ADP.
30:33
That's nice. It might also be the shoes
30:35
though. That, yeah, definitely.
30:38
Or it's the Air Jordans and you've just been doing all this
30:41
extra work and you just like could have just spent 75 bucks
30:43
on another pair of shoes. They're like hire this guy.
30:46
No as. As someone who has worked with
30:48
you before, I would definitely say it's it's a beautiful combo
30:53
of your work ethic and attitude on set as a whole.
30:58
And well, frankly, your work is beautiful.
31:01
Like your shots look good? Yeah, the proof is in the
31:04
pudding. It definitely is there.
31:06
And the other thing is normally with those dailies, I put them
31:09
on display. I put the laptop out where
31:11
people are having lunch or in the green room or whatever, so
31:13
people can see what it is we're creating and get really excited
31:17
about it and then want to step their thumbs up.
31:18
Even some of the actors sometimes they'll see, oh,
31:21
that's how that that's how that played out or that's how that
31:24
looks. Let me you know they they think
31:26
about just those types of things.
31:28
For some reason. It just improves the overall
31:30
spirit of the set itself. But you want the person that's
31:34
taken the picture to be taking lead in a lot of situations
31:37
because it's film. That's yeah, yeah, that's the
31:40
point. It is it that's the spearhead is
31:43
the thing that's on the frame. But I also feel like being able
31:47
to show people all this work, all this time, all this energy
31:51
and effort, look, it's already paying off.
31:53
Here you go. I think that's really cool.
31:56
And and like, you know, weirdly inspiring in a way.
31:59
If that was just set out in the green room area for everybody to
32:02
see, that would be really inspiring.
32:05
Be like oh cool, look at us do stuff.
32:07
Yeah, what we're doing because. Yeah, that makes sense a lot of
32:11
times. For me to get rehired, you know,
32:12
especially after the Jordans. But they go, oh, hey, when they
32:16
go back to their home, they're like, hey, I'm going to make a
32:18
movie. I want Cody with me because oh,
32:20
look what he does. I already know because half the
32:22
time they're they're recording it with their phone, you know,
32:24
just off the laptop and there's they're already impressed with
32:26
it. Nice.
32:27
So that helped. Cool.
32:29
Well, before we instant gratification is nice, it is
32:32
People respond well to that. And it's important in film too.
32:34
That's what I was going to mention is a lot of times you
32:36
forget about that. It's good to have those little
32:38
pleasant reminders that you are getting something done because
32:41
the from the time that you start the script writing to the time
32:45
that the film's done can be very long.
32:48
Yeah, very arduous. So.
32:49
Well, yeah, for 2:59, you said that, that you shot that in
32:53
2023. Yep.
32:55
And. It's coming out in September.
32:57
So it'll be out soon, yeah, which is awesome.
33:00
But that's that's a time in between it.
33:03
So having those little bits to be able to say, well, no look or
33:06
well, I guess you had like the poster come out and you've had
33:09
you've had those little dopamine hits in addition to throughout
33:12
the way, but. Plus you keep 6 things rolling 7
33:15
things rolling all the time so that.
33:17
Yeah, that helps. Well, it would have been out
33:19
sooner, but the death of Snow White came out before it and we
33:22
wanted to kind of piggyback off of the death of Snow White
33:25
success. Because if you haven't seen the
33:28
death of Snow White, it is streaming on pretty much every
33:31
streaming platform, I believe. And it is amazing.
33:36
It is a really fun just. Gory version of the story of
33:41
Snow White, but which needed to be told.
33:43
Done well with like, you have real little people, actors
33:47
involved. You have this castle that you
33:50
built for the set. You have all these indie film
33:55
makers coming together in the Pacific Northwest to create this
33:59
beautiful, gory, tragic, twisted, psychotic evil queen
34:04
story, and it's so much fun. Yeah, definitely check that out.
34:07
And Cody, I was going to say, as we were talking, I was reminded
34:11
that I have watched quite a few of your films.
34:14
That's right, streaming services.
34:16
So obviously, I don't think you're gonna have any issues
34:19
getting some awesome distribution for 2:59 when
34:21
that's once that comes out. Snow White came out recently.
34:24
And is there other other films that are streaming online that
34:27
you're super proud of that you think people should check?
34:29
Out Well, there's a few that I've DP D right and it it you
34:32
know, I should say this is $150,000 film.
34:36
You know, I should probably say that before you go and watch
34:38
them just because that gives a little context of what it looks
34:41
like. But a hard place is one of them
34:43
that is just a crazy creature feature.
34:45
But in September there's another one called the Boy from below.
34:48
OK that I shot in Ohio last year.
34:50
But that one is a lot of fun. It's like a 90s slasher film
34:53
like this. I know what we did last summer
34:55
or something. So fantastic.
34:57
Time. But The Tempest.
34:59
I don't know when that one's coming out.
35:01
That one's the one I shot in Mississippi, really.
35:03
But that's a good film. Beautiful man Sweet.
35:07
Well, hey, this is inspiring because hey, everybody out
35:11
there, you can do it. It's a lot of work.
35:13
But if you wanna do film and you wanna make the film pay the
35:17
bills, it's possible you can. And if you did it in Boise?
35:21
Like Cuna? Cuna technically, which is
35:24
outside of Boise. Then anybody can do it anywhere.
35:27
Yep. So.
35:28
And you can too. And you can too.
35:31
So not only is he talented, he's inspiring.
35:33
Thank you, Cody. That talent's been developed,
35:36
though. This is craft, people.
35:37
I did. When I shot my first future
35:39
film, I didn't even know what Aperture was.
35:41
I didn't know the triangle of exposure.
35:43
I didn't know any of that stuff. Yeah, but I knew storytelling.
35:45
You learn by doing, and then you find out that you're like, why
35:48
does this not look right? Or why does this not sound
35:50
right? It's like, oh, I messed this,
35:51
this, this and this stuff. And then the next time you play
35:53
it. Yep, excellent.
35:55
Well, on that note, shall we have a succinct farewell?
35:59
Sounds good. Excellent.
36:00
Bye.