Anscast

GPOP Ep. 2 - The Evolution of Film Viewing A Conversation with two-time Emmy winning Michael Key

March 12, 2024 Tony Myers Episode 2
Anscast
GPOP Ep. 2 - The Evolution of Film Viewing A Conversation with two-time Emmy winning Michael Key
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers
Step behind the scenes of sci-fi splendor with Emmy-winning makeup maestro Michael Key, as he recounts his transformative journey from apprentice to artisan on the set of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." His backstage stories reveal the painstaking attention to detail that breathes life into the most memorable extraterrestrial beings. Meanwhile, Michael's reflections on how technical expertise shapes his viewing experience resonate with Makayla, an aspiring cinematographer. Together, they illustrate the fine line between analyzing the craft and surrendering to the story—a balance every film aficionado strives to find.

Bask in the warm glow of cinematic nostalgia as we traverse the past and present of movie-watching marvels. From the rekindled magic of "Titanic" lighting up today's theaters to the immersive thrill of "Top Gun: Maverick" in ScreenX, we unpack how advancements in technology can reforge our connection with classic tales. Savor the communal joys of drive-in theaters that once flickered under the stars, and explore the poignant chapters of our cinematic journeys that continue to resonate through the decades.

As the curtain falls, we linger on the emotional tapestry woven by the potent combination of visuals and scores, with Hans Zimmer's melodies and the haunting silent command of Darth Vader being but a few examples. These powerful moments underscore the crucial roles of meticulous editing and a resonant soundtrack in the alchemy of film. With heartfelt gratitude, we look forward to the boundless possibilities of future dialogues that celebrate the collective passion and expertise that fuels the enduring allure of film and television storytelling.

Speaker 2:

And welcome back to Generation Pop, hello, hello. Today we have a special guest, two-time Emmy-winning, michael Key.

Speaker 4:

Hey guys, hey, nice to be with you today.

Speaker 2:

How did you get your Emmys? I stole them.

Speaker 4:

No, I was spent a lot of years in Hollywood studios and I did about seven years on the Star Trek franchise, so I was lucky to get five nominations Now the five. I walked away with two gold statues, so I get the book in, so at least I have that, and they were both, for it was nominated for a few of the different shows, but the two times that I won were both for a Deep Space Nine, oh, ok, and was that just overall?

Speaker 2:

did you do a main character? Did you do all characters or supervise, or how did that?

Speaker 4:

how does that work? Well, the makeup department here was Michael Westmore from the famous Westmore family. It goes back to the dawn of motion pictures and he was our boss and what a great one he was. And so anything that I have in regards to Tarstrek is all because of him, and so the way he would kind of structure things is like one chief and everybody else is an Indian. So he didn't have a lot. He didn't do hierarchy or anything like that. So it would be sometimes I'm doing main characters and then sometimes I'm doing background people.

Speaker 4:

It was just whatever the show needed. I mean, it really grew from when we first started. It was a next generation, it was a much, much smaller show, smaller crew and then time to get into Deep Space Nine. We got to cast a thousand, not literally, but a lot of people Right, it's a lot bigger.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Cool, that's very cool. Micaela is. She's at Clark right now. Do you want to tell him what you're kind of interested in? I want to talk for you.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, what are you doing?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm doing our video and sound production classes there. Well, I'm taking the last one that I can take and then I'm going to just try to figure it out from there. But yeah, I'm really into film and filmmaking and specifically probably cinematography and how like camera movements and everything. And I was actually just telling him that after watching Dune this to the second time, I told him yeah, we have. So we have a friend that's like a musician and she talks about how she has a hard time listening to like current music because she just hears like all the technical things.

Speaker 2:

What's Elizabeth?

Speaker 3:

Elizabeth, yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know what Elizabeth is?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, she like hears all the things and she can't really enjoy it after the second time or after the first time watching Dune 2. I told him I was like I kind of feel how she feels after being in those classes and watching Dune 2 and thinking of every single camera angle, every movement and like actually trying to check in with myself and be like okay, just like enjoy it. But it's so hard to not think of all those technical things. So I was wondering like do you notice things like that too when you watch movies?

Speaker 4:

Well, I don't think I do so much. This is the way that I've always positioned. It is that I'm first and foremost a viewer. I watch, I love film and I've loved television my entire life, and I watch it for what the film is and what there's if something is exceptionally done well or exceptionally bad that will certainly get me to do that, but I'll.

Speaker 4:

there's things I do and I go oh, my wife is, you know, she's not from that world and she thinks I'm super technical. See, I don't think that I am, but she does. I think that and I go oh there's, you know, there's Josh Brolin.

Speaker 4:

Oh yeah, I worked with him on Young Riders and I was like, oh, that was so-and-so, and she goes you just watched a show, but I see something. I go, oh yeah, you see somebody, you know, and it's a thing. But I don't think that I am. I do when I love it, when I get actually get caught up in the moment, like you're going, like you just watch Dune 2. It was like wow, there's the emotion that's happening there and it's like what the heck is going on, and hopefully that is first and foremost what that is there are.

Speaker 4:

I do have colleagues, though that are. They're so, so technical. It makes me wonder if they can actually really watch the darn thing, because it really is all of that. I do have films that I will watch again and again. There's a handful that I think a lot of, and I really do like to revisit them. It learned something new. Like we we watched I hadn't seen it in a long time was a Titanic and a big Titanic fans, since I was a little boy and my wife is not. As I explained to my wife, gail, she's not really a technical person, she doesn't usually like documentaries, but I had to end up getting oh, this is a little bit of a rabbit trail.

Speaker 2:

You know what I? Think it's worth it. I think this one's worth it. We love rabbit trails. It's fine.

Speaker 4:

Rabbit trailing this one intentionally. When you upgrade your system of what you watch, things on- the screen when you change that. It totally screws up your everything that you've got. The first time that happened for me was VHS, because, gosh, I'm dating myself now. But when I had this, I got this collection. I was just so happy to be able to have that stuff and I got a pretty good size collection and then I bought a better TV and then all my VHS tapes look like crap. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

And so I can. All right, I got to go to DVD.

Speaker 2:

Did you ever do the laser disc or did you just go straight to DVD?

Speaker 4:

I was super jealous of those who were able to have laser discs. Yeah, the guy works for.

Speaker 2:

Probably not familiar with those, Are you? They're like albums.

Speaker 4:

They're huge. Oh yeah, not those DVD, but it's just. It's just.

Speaker 3:

Familiar with VHS tapes. But yeah, Cause yeah.

Speaker 2:

Cause we yeah, we just went from VHS to DVDs. But we had a friend that we used to go to church with. He had a home theater and he had laser discs. They were huge.

Speaker 4:

I did get them later. I didn't get it initially because you couldn't record on it Right. I didn't get it in a recordable format, but I was jealous of the people that had money when I first got in the business and they were talking about all the extras that we're that we take for granted now. Laser disc was the first format that really had that in any significant way. That's all these little extras and documentaries and feature ads.

Speaker 4:

Those are all come from the grandfather of the laser disc. I did end up buying one later for some extras that weren't available on DVD and whatnot. Anyway, back to Titanic. We wanted to watch it, so I pulled out my DVD from it and I had just gotten a 4K TV in the past year and it did not look good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

It actually shrunk because I wasn't doing the where it will fill in.

Speaker 2:

Right, right and so.

Speaker 4:

I had black bars all the way around. All right, damn it, gotta do it. I had collectors ultra edition or whatnot and has 13 or 15 hours of extras on it. So when I arrived my wife and I watch it and I got a chance to watch James Cameron like how he used so many different techniques to get to push the envelope for what the technology was in 97. So yeah, I've been. I'm kind of redoing some of my collection Did you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was kind of streaming when we moved out here we had Comcast at our old place or Xfinity and then I had been wanting to go to streaming but in and I had an Apple TV but at the time it well, we had it what like two or three times I bought it.

Speaker 3:

Oh, my gosh yeah.

Speaker 2:

They were so annoyed because I wanted to start streaming, I wanted to cut the cord and then it was just recently, I think, with their latest iteration, that it well, and all the companies, just you know, creating apps and all of that. So we have pretty decent, we have fiber out here, so the streaming is pretty clean. I know DVDs, 4k, you know Blu-ray, all that is better, but it's still pretty clean with streaming and the internet that we have out here. But I was wanting to go. So we have some DVDs and stuff like that, but there's movies that I want to watch, like Air Force One or some with Josh, my son-in-law, you know. You know Josh. Well, yeah, you know Josh, do I?

Speaker 4:

I don't know if you do Sierra's husband, but there's like oh, yes, yes, I met him on Sunday, in fact, we oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We wrote back and forth today. I don't know if your listeners know who all these people are. Like you referenced Elizabeth earlier. No, but it's fine. Who's Elizabeth?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's Elizabeth Morris. She's a close friend of ours, so there were some other ones like I wanted to watch Unforgiven with him because he likes Westerns. We've watched Seven with him, but a lot of those, even if you stream them, sometimes they don't look great Like. I went and saw the Abyss when it came out, when he released it, re-released it in 4K, in HD, and they showed it for one night on a Wednesday and it was incredible and it was one of my favorite movies. But looking back on that, it's like so it's so rough. Like you said, we have a 77 inch OLED, so those old movies look a little, a little rough. It's like. You know, I wish that you know directors or companies would do what they did with the Abyss and kind of, because it looks fantastic. Have you seen it in HD or 4K?

Speaker 4:

No, I saw it on the big screen back in the day, but I haven't.

Speaker 2:

It's out now, so you should be able to stream it or buy it on the Blu-ray. But yeah, it was everything you'd hope for, you know, seeing it then, you know, because not all those guys James Cameron, Luke, all those guys filmed, for what were? You know, I think they were thinking visually today and they were so limited. I know Cameron will wait or just invent what he needs to, you know, to film what he wants to film.

Speaker 4:

So Well, nothing with that too is I don't know if people really realize it when emotion picture is being made. You've got people that are highly skilled in what they're doing hopefully the best in the world at what they do. That's what you want.

Speaker 4:

And that's all of that, is this converging of skills and efforts and everything to create this thing of what you see on the screen in the theater, but fortunately, like when they say it came out in DVD and now they're going to put it out in Blu-ray, we might have some $15 an hour guy that's working this change in. You know this copy and files and doing this there's not the level of I'm exaggerating, to make a point of course making more money than that.

Speaker 4:

But you don't have the same level of people that are that quality, controlled, that image onto the big silver screen, sometimes going to another format, sometimes it looks really rough and they just get it out there. And there are people that, like Cameron, that will. He'll shepherd that along.

Speaker 3:

Make sure that he'll do it right.

Speaker 4:

And like when they did did Blade Runner on on Blu-ray. They did a good job with that, but there are films that are really poor. See, there's one thing about streaming. We do streaming almost every day in our home but you don't have the extras. If you want the extras, you've got to get it on disk. And there's even things in my career I have just kind of realized in the past five years. There's movies they did that I don't have a copy of and I better get the darn thing because otherwise, you know it's that stuff is getting older and I better get it while I can.

Speaker 2:

So when you watch a movie, do you, will you go to the theater regardless of what kind of movie it is, or will you kind of reserve, like the like a Dune 2 type of like a big movie for the theater? Because I find, with what I have now my home theater, I have a complete sonos, surround sound for that room down there, and then I have the, the LG OLED, and there's a lot of times when I don't feel like I need to go, especially for a talkie movie. Shelley and I well, we all like you know, you know, like just more dialogue. But if it's a big epic like Dune like I've seen it twice now her and I both have seen it twice we like, we like that experience.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it really depends on what it is, because I'll get I get screeners from the Academy, so if it's a movie, are you still a member of the Academy and all that? Yeah, I remember the television Academy, and also a member of the makeup artist union, and they have the Guild Awards Right. I'm not sure if I'm not a motion picture Academy member.

Speaker 2:

Right, got it, got it.

Speaker 4:

Pulled out this a little too soon to get that one, although I'm pretty well connected with them and we we work together well, but they I do get the the screeners for just about everything. So if I can, if I see something there, then I may not see it. But to your point, though, to see Dune 2 is like no. In fact, my daughter was over last night and she hadn't seen Dune 2 yet and she's maybe I'll go see it because she's she works graveyard, so she's up late, and so she was going to go to some little like a little living room theater.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, no, no, no, no, don't do that. Don't do that. What are you talking about? This is Dune you got to see this and like you know, a theater that will merit for the level of what's been created.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 4:

I imagine the director is probably be staying out there going. Hey, no, no, don't go to that theater, you need to see it in this one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I listen to the real blend podcast. Have you ever heard of that podcast? It's R E E L blend podcast. Yeah, it's their real fans, almost over the top fans, but they're I think they're movie critics. They do a lot. There's one in particular that I like that I follow on TikTok. He's a kind of a junket guy but he asks really, really good questions and but all three of them that are on this podcast, the podcast is more they'll do the junket stuff. But they interviewed the cinematographer for Dune and the director and they get really techie about because I listened to it for a second time today after the cinematographer, after we watched again last night today on my walk and he was asking about 143 and 290 and 243 and all those cameras and the cinematographer was talking about how they had to kind of plan things out so for framing and all of that stuff. I kind of ended that stuff.

Speaker 3:

Make sure you don't get all the equipment and the way too. It was funny because when I was listening to that part, like, and he was bringing up like all of the different frame sizes and everything I like, felt I was like, oh my God, like I was getting stressed out. And then, after he stops asking the question, the cinematographer was like I'm getting anxious just thinking about all of that again and I was like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was a really good because these guys are just like movie buffs, they're movie fans, but they really get into the techie side, especially if they have, like a cinematographer. And the guy that was the cinematographer I had his name written down, but I forgot.

Speaker 3:

It's like great Frazier.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he did. I think he did the Batman, I believe, and did a couple other great movies and I think he won an Academy Award for one of them. But I love listening to that and I wish we had like a true, I think, IMAX. We have Regal IMAX, but I don't think it's not like a true. I think that it seems like every time I see what's listed, it's like six or seven cities and that's it where it's like true experience for what the director kind of was wanting for viewers Unfortunately ours.

Speaker 4:

I just went into that thing for the first time some months ago to see Oppenheimer and I went okay, imax, I'll go see it. Wow, it'll create. It's an IMAX. I'll see that I hadn't been to an IMAX theater in a long time. I walked in and I went this is it. The screen is the smallest IMAX screen. I've ever seen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so where do you usually see your movies if you've not been to that theater, that format, before?

Speaker 4:

Well, I was a big fan of Sinotopia when Rudyard oh yeah he was doing that.

Speaker 3:

I love Sinotopia.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, with the Dolby App he was on a cutting edge of everything.

Speaker 4:

It just his the production value we had, and it was cool. I used to chat with him. We would come in there and see things I've actually used to. I even shot some footage in his place for that and so we would talk and he would do cool things like, hey, we got this new thing, come check this out.

Speaker 4:

And he would take us into the theater and have them spin something up to show us you know on my crew and see like a thing of Iron man or something and go, wow, I need it. He got a new 3D system in there and talk about what that is. So you know AMC bought them in. Sinotopia is no more. But I still I still have gone to. I've never been really usually too big on Regal, although they've really stepped it up what they were, but I've seen their IMAX.

Speaker 4:

I haven't done. I guess it's called RPX. Yeah, haven't done that yet, but I like, I do like what the ghost of Sinotopia still at AMC in a way with their GXLs, and I saw Dune 2 there.

Speaker 2:

Did you see it on the GXL or their Dolby Cinema?

Speaker 4:

See, I didn't know till I got there. So, when I went. I'm buying it on the app. So oh, there's the GXL, that's the good one. So I bought it for that when I walked in and I saw that Dolby, I went what's going on here? So I grabbed one of the people at AMC there and I said, hey, what's going on? They said, oh yeah, we did this remodel and there's new leather chairs and all this has been improved. So we've decided we're gonna go back and watch a Dune now on the Dolby.

Speaker 2:

So we see it, the screen's pretty huge for BXL. Gxl or the.

Speaker 4:

There's my dyslexia coming through GXL. It's an 80 foot screen and that's bigger than anything that Regal has.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, we went, we were gonna go there. So we saw it at Regal on the IMAX, but I wanted to see because we knew that they had updated. Finally, amc, because it was just trash for a while when they took over. And then a friend and I went and saw a movie, I can't remember which movie, but their whole hallway was full of chairs. So I'm like, oh, they're like in boxes. So I'm like, oh, they're like doing it now. And then I. So, when Dune came out, I was like McKayla, we should go to Regal. I wanna go to the mall too and kind of compare, now that they've updated. Then, right before I bought the tickets for that second showing, I was gonna go with a friend of mine. She was actually gonna stay back, she didn't wanna pay 20 bucks again. And then I checked the empirical theater and to see if it was playing, and it was, and they have Dolby Atmos in that theater, and so I told her that was only $8.

Speaker 4:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

So I was like. She was like yeah, I'm in for eight bucks. So we went there last night. So I still need to make it to AMC to check out our new. You know what they've done there.

Speaker 3:

I may or may not. Wanna go see Dolby.

Speaker 4:

You might find interesting. I saw Oppenheimer first at the IMAX, I saw it there and then the next week I went and saw it on a GXL at AMC and it's a trade-off. Imax has got a really great resolution. The colors are really just awesome. But when I was watching GXL I'm specifically looking for how much is different to. The larger screen makes a huge difference in what that is. It's big and it's not like that's a shabby projection system and the audio that's in there. I felt it was kind of a trade-off. I thought they were about even, but with the IMAX price Don't think I would do that.

Speaker 2:

Right. Well, I thought for that movie in particular. It came out at the same time as Mission Impossible and it kind of took priority over Mission Impossible and I didn't think it was like an IMAX movie. It's mostly dialogue. I didn't need to see it, you know, oppenheimer, yeah, oppenheimer, yeah, I could have seen it in one of the living room. It's not a big epic visually to me. To justify, you know, taking all the IMAX theaters, it's more of a dialogue movie to me. So I know, when Cruz does the second part, I think he like reserved all the IMAX for like three weeks or something because he's not gonna have what Oppenheimer did to him for this time around. But yeah, I don't in particular, I didn't need to see an IMAX. But I got a question for you. Sure what?

Speaker 4:

was the first movie you ever saw in a theater. Oh God, I have no idea.

Speaker 2:

Because we didn't have, we didn't do movies with my parents. We didn't couldn't really afford. I do remember coming back because I grew up in Omaha, nebraska, and my parents weren't like movie. We watched movies at home. We were like we watched movies at home. We were like we would rent a VCR and bring it home and watch movies and then we were finally able to afford one and then so we watched a lot of movies at home but we never really to the theater.

Speaker 2:

I do remember I think the one I remember the most we did actually go to drive-ins more than theaters when I grew up, but the one I remember probably the most was when, actually, on a vacation back here and my aunt took me I think maybe another cousin to return the jet. I came out in 1983. And I do remember like that's probably the one that I remember the most. I remember going to the drive-in a lot but I remember playing in the drive-in, running around and all of that I don't remember my mom would do that, but in the theater I don't know, it might have been ET or something like that, but return the jet I think I can't remember the most and that wasn't even with my parents and that was back here where my mom's family lives.

Speaker 4:

So do you remember the first movie you ever saw in a theater?

Speaker 3:

I cannot, I cannot remember. I can think of a lot of other movies that I saw growing up there, but I can't remember what my first one would have been. Do you remember what my first?

Speaker 2:

one would have been. I have no idea, because I'm sure we took you to theaters later, when you could handle a theater. We never took you when you.

Speaker 3:

I think I remember seeing Ice Age 2 or something no one of the Ice Age movies. I think I remember seeing that in the theater. I don't know if that was the first one, though, or not. I can't remember.

Speaker 2:

Do you remember yours? Yeah, I do. I'm guessing you too.

Speaker 4:

It made quite the impression on me. I was four years old and they took me to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Man's Chinese Theater.

Speaker 2:

Oh sick.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, so a major, you know a significant theater Right. That was my first time seeing that and, of course, that little boy seeing a car that flies in a car that you know can be a boat and everything of that. Right, it's so cool so I got to have all the cereal boxes that have the Chitty, chitty Bang Bang inside it all of that thing.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, yeah, I was 10 when Return of the Jedi came out. I'm sure there were some, I just don't remember. I go. I remember because it was cheaper, you know, because you got to see like a double feature. It was a little cheaper. My dad had an old F-150 pickup so we got the whole experience. You know the drive in, but I don't remember taking us to the theater much. I did a lot of roller skating and stuff back then, but movies not so much.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think it's. My experience is similar in the drive in theater type thing. I remember going as a kid, but I don't remember the movies that we saw. Same thing go and play in your pajamas and then you can go to sleep in the back if you want. Yeah, getting the snacks. Actually, I remember the snacks more than movies.

Speaker 2:

I do remember my mom took us to Jaws 3D and that was probably early 80s, I do remember. I don't remember anything in the movie, but I remember her doing that with us. So it was either a pickup or we had a Pintos Pintil wagons.

Speaker 4:

My dad had a welding truck and so he For some of this. We would just get on top of the wheelie truck and my brother and I we could just lay up there on top of our sleeping bags and whatnot. Yeah, I do remember the back. So some of it was in Texas because I spent some years living there, and that was inside the car because it would usually get a little chillier.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I remember the window deal and then being able to play on your car radio, like on the AM or like 88. You didn't have the big metal monster, I think early, early on, but later, you know, you could tune it in on your, your radio.

Speaker 4:

Kelly, have you ever been to a drive in?

Speaker 3:

Yes, I think I've only been to one. It was when we saw the first it movie right, not the original, but like the newer it movie, I think that was like the drive in that they do out at the field, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And so they do a drive in during Halloween and they show it's like I think it's just a giant inflatable screen.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's not the greatest. It's pretty bad, but it was fun.

Speaker 4:

Oh, you need to go see like a real, like driving.

Speaker 2:

They've got one. Yeah, it's still a new book, right? I think it's a new book.

Speaker 4:

And it's cool I took. I wanted to take my kids so they could actually see what a movie excuse me, a drive in theater is like. So we went and saw Empire Strikes Back there.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's a great movie. To see it a drive in, yeah.

Speaker 4:

I think that's the era I don't want to say modern movies in it. Yeah, I need the nostalgia to go with the nostalgic platform. So we did that and we did this and they got a great snack thing. It was really is like a throwback to being like what drive in when we were kids and then we went and saw something else I don't know, it might have been ET something. So we've we've done it twice.

Speaker 2:

It's a little bit of a drive, but it's a little bit of a drive, especially that coming back late, that late. I think that's why we always talked about it, but I was always a little nervous about the drive back because it's so late.

Speaker 3:

And it's even just getting there too, cause you have to plan far enough ahead to get decent spots. Yeah, even then it's, it's tricky.

Speaker 2:

And it's nice to have a like a pickup. We have the Bronco, but I think we did it once in the Bronco, I think, or the Xterra.

Speaker 3:

No, it was the Xterra yeah.

Speaker 2:

And it it was a little lung comfy. I mean you really got to have like a pickup or something you can lay out your pillows and sleeping bags and stuff like that.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, a little bit, but then your speakers are inside the cab. That's true. That's true, yeah.

Speaker 3:

You really just have to have two people in the car and then it, and then it works Right, but we had like five.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it didn't work as well, I think. Yeah, you'd have to bring like a boom box or something like that to to really make it work.

Speaker 4:

So we took my SUV, and so we pointed the back of the SUV towards the screen and then had had it open so, you know, we could have the sound system on in the car and be able to hear that. And then we sat in our chairs around it and it was. It was okay. I just it wasn't perfect. Main thing is trying to keep the light off, you know, because you can have in the doors open, Right, we're dealing with that. But yeah, it's, it's fun. I'm glad that there's things I want to make sure my kids experience. It's like okay, before you get too old and too busy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like, or they go away.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Like the movies. Like there's a lot of movies that I know Josh would like in the girls, not so much. Another one was like in the line of fire hunt for at October. I love those. Yeah, you know, I was an adult when they came up, came out, but I love those movies. Or like some of my favorite movies and he hasn't seen any of them and I'm a little afraid to go for some of them to go back to our earlier conversation because they're just not going to look like I want them to look, but they're such good movies and I I'm looking forward to horizon. Have you heard about that? It's the new Kevin Costner epic yeah.

Speaker 4:

The new Western thing yeah, I just saw the trailer for that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so he releases in June the first part and then, and then he releases the second one in August. Oh, so it's really unconventional, yeah, and I think there's even more that he's doing, but the first two parts of it come in June and then in August, so it's kind of a unique way to release it, but it looks I mean, it looks typical like a huge epic Western. So I'm that's another one that I'm really looking. I'm looking forward to coming up.

Speaker 4:

That's a movie that you saw. You've seen the most in a theater. Or actually I should ask you have you seen movies multiple times in a theater?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, do you want to answer that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, Um, I saw. Well, I saw Dune 2 twice in the theater and then, um, I saw the Barbie movie three times in the theater and then I saw Bottoms three times in the theater.

Speaker 4:

Bottoms. What's that? I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

It's sort of a coming of age, sort of coming of age, and dark comedy.

Speaker 3:

I don't even know. I don't even know how to describe.

Speaker 4:

Sounds like a booty film or something I don't know?

Speaker 2:

No, no, you might. I wouldn't like just give it a try. No, Just watch the trailer.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, that's the thing to do, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't read a synopsis and I'm not even sure that was to a justice. It's pretty funny. It's a. It's a good movie. What was the one that I compare it to? Um that we saw in Canada?

Speaker 3:

Oh, good boys.

Speaker 2:

Good boys. Did you ever see good boys?

Speaker 4:

Good boys, who's in?

Speaker 2:

that A lot of young actors Again it's like younger kind of coming of age.

Speaker 3:

I think Seth Robyn produced it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's kind of a like um kids, so bottoms, is high school good, or yeah, good boys right. Yeah, bottoms is high school, and then good boys they're like middle school or something, but they're kind of like and raucous isn't the right word, but kind of um, kind of like, is it?

Speaker 4:

bathroom, humor and fart jokes or not.

Speaker 2:

Fart jokes and not bathroom humor, but kind of like, like she said, like I guess it's good. Boys is like boy humor and almost more like high school humor. But it's coming out of Lillard, yeah, it's really.

Speaker 3:

It's really yeah, high school boy humor coming out of like a 10 or 11 year old, right.

Speaker 2:

So you know, I don't know if you're thinking of thing, but it's uh, both of them are pretty funny, pretty funny movie movies.

Speaker 4:

So you can't think of what movie you've seen the most in the theater.

Speaker 2:

No, I know I've seen again. We just saw Dune twice. I don't think I go past um two times. I don't think um you know I'll watch like we, we, like we talked about on our first podcast. I'll go back to King Arthur with Clive, clive Owen, which is not a classic King Arthur movie, it's kind of like no, the caliber was who and said that that's what.

Speaker 4:

That's what came to mind for me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it's a King Arthur. It's with Clive Owen, Kira Knightley. So it's not the greatest King Arthur movie, but it's just an easy. It's a really easy watch, so that one I go back to. Um, I will watch seven, maybe once a year.

Speaker 4:

I have not seen that forever. I need to see that.

Speaker 2:

That's, that's like I think. I think that's in my top five. I mentioned them in the first episode. Um. What else do I watch often? Um. Oh, gladiator gladiators, my number one. I think I've seen that more than probably any other movie I'll see anything Ridley Scott makes yeah. It's so good and I'm looking forward to part two coming out, I think in November. I think.

Speaker 4:

Do you ever go see movies that they're nostalgic? You can see that. Oh, they're going to show it in the theater. I'll go see it. They got the Wizard of Oz at showing this Friday at the Kiggins. No yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, because they put Titanic back into the theater and I really we went to that one. That was really cool Cause Titanic is one of my favorite movies, so it was cool to like be able to experience it at a theater, cause I went. When did it come out?

Speaker 4:

97. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I wasn't even born when I came out. It was cool to be able to like rewatch one of my favorite. Like older movies.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she was pretty adamant. Like you know, she's seen it on so many times VHS, probably DVD.

Speaker 3:

I think the first time I saw it it was just on oh yeah. It was on TV cable or whatever, and so we just or no. I watched it at my friend's house, so I think it was on DVD or something like that.

Speaker 4:

Sometimes you can get a really different experience from something you're used to watching on the small screen, and then finally you get to see it on the big screen, the way it was meant to be. There can be a bit of an epiphany about like, oh, this is what the filmmaker had in mind.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, have you experienced that? Did you experience that with Titanic or any other movie?

Speaker 3:

Like experience.

Speaker 2:

Like something like he's talking about. I guess you probably haven't seen a lot of those like he's talking about, but I know you. She was really like we have to go see Titanic before it leaves the theater so she can experience it that way.

Speaker 4:

Where did you see it?

Speaker 3:

I think we just probably just isn't it? Just that, yeah, I think.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, have you ever done the ScreenX down at Bridgeport?

Speaker 4:

I don't even know what that is.

Speaker 2:

That is down. We saw Top Gun. What's it? What's the second one called? I can't even remember now. Top Gun 2.

Speaker 4:

Maverick yeah, maverick, there you go, good job.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, thanks, it's like my favorite movie, but I can't remember the name. So I found this theater. Well, he had talked about it, I think on Twitter or something about ScreenX, and so Bridgeport is the only one that has it and it was filmed for that format. So basically it's the screen and then there's, and then it comes up the wall. So there's, the screen is like this, and then it comes up. So when they're in the cockpit, you're like basically seeing everything that they would see out of the windows, wow, so we saw that down there, and then I think, just with some other friends at like a regular something, but I think that's the only one. Like I wouldn't mind seeing Dune on that Dune 2.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, I would. I would see it there, yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know those big epic movies like that or like Twisters I wouldn't mind seeing if they show that and but I know that he did Maverick for like that format, for you know it just comes up the walls probably 15, 20 feet on. You know either side. So it was pretty cool, it was a neat experience. Again, it's kind of far, so it'd have to be a really special movie for me to go all the way down there for sure yeah. But it was. It was a fun experience.

Speaker 4:

I had a chance to see a couple of movies they they did a night at the Motion Picture Academy, for they called it the George Powell night. I don't know if you remember him. He was a filmmaker back in the 60s. He did the Gulliver's Travels and and the Time Machine. I think he did also War of the Worlds.

Speaker 4:

I think those maybe were all George Powell's and he was just an interesting filmmaker that was doing all this genre stuff. So they have a every year. They have what's called the George Powell night, which is to let somebody take some films and kind of talk about them. And Rick Baker is an Academy Award winning makeup artist. He did the George Powell night once and these there's two films he showed that I'd never seen on a big screen. One was Frankenstein, which is 1931, and the other one was a little big man, which is 1971, maybe something like that it could be 73.

Speaker 4:

Frankenstein I had been watching since I was a little kid because back in the 60s they were putting all that stuff on TV because they didn't have much content. So they were, and so I'd seen it many, many, many times. But seeing it on the big screen was so weird for me because even the aspect ratio of the film I'm so used to seeing things in widescreen 30s it was it looked almost square. To me it was probably four or three, but it it was really something to see it in that way. I saw it in a completely different light and it looked amazing. The other one was a reference, was a little big man, which is Dustin Hoffman. It's like right after he'd done the graduate, so it's like his next film and he the movie's book ended with him being 121 years old, like he's being interviewed and then you see his whole life and all of that go.

Speaker 4:

But the beginning and the end of the movie there's this incredible makeup. It's the. It's a godfather of all age makeups. That's the first time that something had really been done right by a legendary makeup artist named Dick Smith, and when I've seen it on like VHS and other things, I thought it looked good but but not as amazing as it is where it was held, the, how high in regard it was. But when I saw that on the big screen like, like a good print, the way it's supposed to be it was magical. It was so legit and it actually goes back to my point about how things can get transferred and you don't have the people shepherding along quality go into those formats. But since this was the motion picture Academy, they were able to get a really clean print of it and show it. So you know, sometimes you can see things. I like seeing Casablanca on the big screen because obviously that was made before I was born.

Speaker 2:

It was a big epic movie. I don't think I've seen all that all through, but I could see watching that on because that's a big epic movie.

Speaker 4:

That's one, if it's playing around I will go see it usually. Yeah, there's certain films that I love to be able to see in a movie theater, If I can. A creator's lost Dark, one of my favorite films, Blade Runner. It's on a big screen. If it's going to be shown decently, I like to go see it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that was one that I felt like with the abyss. I love that movie and the soundtrack is amazing. It was one of my favorite soundtracks and score for that I don't know. I'd have to look it up. Mackie will look it up, I just I. Sometimes I don't pay enough attention to the composer, whatever. I just listened to the album.

Speaker 3:

It was the abyss yeah.

Speaker 2:

Okay, but if it's James Horner.

Speaker 4:

That's who he used for Titanic.

Speaker 2:

It was so fun watching it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, james Horner, it was, and then Alan Silvestri. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 4:

It's been around forever.

Speaker 2:

So when you wrap up your fördegend work you know it's just that Vlogger, because I spend so much time here I actually asked both of you this when were you kind of like inspired to do makeup and stuff? Was it a movie, was it a TV show? What was it that you're like I want to do that? Or did you fall into it, like, did you or did something inspire you to do that?

Speaker 4:

Well, as I said earlier, I big on motion pictures and television.

Speaker 2:

So I was a little kid.

Speaker 4:

Because the first part of my life I was an only child.

Speaker 3:

So the TV was my babysitter.

Speaker 4:

So you're watching a lot of TV. And then in the 60s, there was a lot of really interesting science fiction. There's the adjective I'll use for it. You had Time Tunnel, you had Land of the Giants Lost in Space, Star Trek, of course, and a few others that were on there.

Speaker 2:

Star Trek had to have been such a huge leap from some of those other ones when it came out.

Speaker 4:

Oh yeah, it was. That was groundbreaking For what it was.

Speaker 2:

Well, this is not like late 60s, right, when that came out 66 through 60. It was really short.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, there's three seasons, although you never see the third season already. Because they're crap. They just slash the budget on it. They don't show those very often. It's amazing what the ripples and the pond that that caused, though, and then what franchise it became.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, but so as a kid, I'm watching all this stuff and I'm really inspired by it.

Speaker 4:

I'm a creative person by nature and I was wanting to do. I can remember being like four or five years old, wanting to go as the Frankenstein monster, to bring that around again. So my grandmother took me to a store and bought me a Frankenstein costume, which is this vacuform mask and horrible colors and a black, terrible kind of nylon, whatever it is with a glow in the dark thing with the monster's face and it says Frankenstein. I was like, well, he doesn't have like a glow in the dark thing on it. I'm wanting to kind of look like you know Frankenstein.

Speaker 4:

And it's just generic and it was just the. It's probably my first memory of being so frustrated with manufacturers, with their apathy for making things for kids. Ah, we'll just make it a little bastard, we'll act out here.

Speaker 4:

You're missing, it'll be okay, and so those kinds of things, and I was also very watching and seeing how things were done. I was picking up on some stuff that didn't look as good, but it was inspiring about it. But the first thing, though, that my first try into doing something in movies was to be to make miniatures and be a model maker, because of all those shows that I saw that had spaceships in them they all did and I thought those were just amazing. I loved a lot of that. So I and then, when Star Wars came out, the guy's 77th, and it's like wow, wow, wow, I want to try to do that.

Speaker 4:

And I did a, attempted it. I attempted it, and I kept going and had the basic form, and I thought I'm going to make this thing, I'm going to make this miniature and do it, but I there was a fatal flaw that I did Instead of making it out of wood, which are what those guys did, but I didn't have woodworking skills, so I made it out of cardboard, and as soon as I put the first coat of paint on it, you could see the corrugated revealed itself, and I went no, and I knew that it was never going to look good that the foundation that I had made and just put all the time into was it.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it was just dead in the water, so I just got completely discouraged. I didn't start over anything, as I was good. Didn't do it Cause I was thinking, yeah, maybe I can hook up with these guys Cause I lived in LA, so that they're the proximity. There was a chance for it, but it's a good thing that I didn't succeed at that, because all that's gone away, it's all computer now they won't very few of them will make it in practical.

Speaker 4:

But the makeup thing came out of you know, as you know, I'm a musician and that's that was my first love. That's what I thought I was going to do. I thought, oh, I'll just be a professional musician, this is what it's going to be, and I went after that. I didn't even know what I wanted to do until I was about 14. I wasn't good at anything. I didn't think, yeah, I was a sports guy. I wasn't good at that.

Speaker 4:

So when, when I got inspired about guitar and music, I just went after that with everything I had. So I did that for about 10 years and I got to be 24 and was like wow, the singer for the band's leaving again. You know, I'm starting over. I can't believe it.

Speaker 4:

I'm having to. You know, I figured after 10 years I put in, I would be making at least some kind of living in music. But that's the, that's the illusion, and it's. That's the thing about the arts. It'll, it'll lure young people in, but oftentimes it never delivers. So I was experiencing that. I got scared, had a very serious talk with God. I thought I'm gonna end up being 60 years old and I'll I will only know how to play guitar. I'm going to be like the blue room at the Ramat brought in or something singing feelings or something Right, right.

Speaker 4:

I thought no, I think. Please don't let that happen to me. Show me what you want me to do, what, what is it? Don't, please don't let me end up like that. I will walk away from this If, if you have something else you want me to do. So kind of. For the first time I was willing to be sacrificial in it and something happened.

Speaker 4:

Right after I had that prayer, I found the first issue of Cinefx magazine, an issue one. It had two movies in it and one of them was Alien, and I saw the face hugger that was in there, the creature that attaches itself to John Hertz face, and I just thought that was genius. I thought it's anatomically plausible. This looks like something that could have really lived this. If I saw this in a museum or something, I would believe it. So I thought I wonder if I can make that Cause. I read a paragraph in it. It was really basic, said we sculpted it in clay and we made a plaster mold and and we put some armature wire, just some really very, very basic description. But in my mind's eye I could picture how seeing. Oh okay, I see how that's done so with a lot of disposable time at that age. I went to the art store and and bought all those materials and over.

Speaker 4:

It took me about seven weeks cause I failed. I got to one point and luckily I didn't. I didn't completely give up like I did on the spaceship, right Right, I said okay, I know what I need to do. And so at the end of seven weeks I had to kind of recruit version of that face hugger and I had a blast Garin, my friends did death with it. It was so fun. I got a lot of affirmation. It was a great guy. I'd take it down to Westwood Boulevard and it would part the crowds like the Red Sea. They'd see me walking with that thing. They just get out of the way. Some little kids would just start balling, crying, just fear terror and they're. But then I had some guys who said hey, how much do you want for that? And he was serious and he offered me what probably would be about a week's pay of what I was making. Then I said I won't sell you this one because there's sentimental value, but I'll make you one.

Speaker 4:

And it'll be a lot better than that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, cause now you have the technique down, now you don't know what you're doing.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, you figure out, oh, I don't need to do this and do this, it'll be better. I did it, Maybe when it was far better than the one that I originally made, and a couple of things like that I did. I thought, well, you know, halloween's coming, maybe I can take these same skills of sculpting and making molds and working with rubber and painting it. Maybe I can make like a prosthetic makeup. It's more expensive materials, though, and you have to buy it and bulk at that time, so I was poor, so I did kind of a primitive version of crowdfunding.

Speaker 4:

I went to all my friends and say hey you give me some money and I'll custom make you a makeup too, because it's some bulk. Right Sure. All my friends to chip in on this, right, so we could get these expensive materials. And then I did that for Halloween, so I did this plan H makeup on myself. I got done with all that and I thought you know the guys that do this for a living and for the movies that's a way better gig than my day job, right, and I'm sure they make a lot more money than what I was getting.

Speaker 2:

So you're just teaching yourself how to do this, like you're? Well, yeah, there were no schools.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, back then, there's no schools, there's no YouTube, there's no Internet's. In its infancy, infancy, I think, it's just the university stuff.

Speaker 2:

Right. It's going on.

Speaker 4:

Right, so it's not there. A few books, not much, but but I was good about going around places and talking to people. I would go to these, I would find out where a makeup effect shop is and then I would go and kind of chat them up, because it's warm in LA.

Speaker 4:

Yeah so these are like industrial units, so have the big like warehouse door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they got it up to let some air in and they're working on things, even if it's just cleaning out molds or whatnot. You know, I just kind of come over and say, hey, well, it looks pretty cool what you make in there, and chat them up and then show them my feeble foes.

Speaker 4:

The horrible makeups and they go oh OK, you're, you're OK, I see what you're trying to do. So well, you might want to do this, you might want to do that. So I would learn a few things from that. And then also, in seeing what they're doing, oh, that's how you do that.

Speaker 2:

So it sounds that it. But once you kind of started getting you know, seeing the technique, or a little bit getting a little bit closer, did it really just like, like really resonate with you and we're like, did it like unfold in your brain, does that make sense, like oh, yeah, I was excited I can, I can do this.

Speaker 4:

I saw what was going on there. I said I want a piece of that, I want to do that. And I did get a job for two weeks working that one the professional makeup supply places and but then I got a job on. You know, it's all gigs, it's none of it's your full time employee, right, right. But I got a job working for a while on with this one makeup effects company. We had a big shark to make kind of like a job shark, and then we had a bunch of bodies for it was actually what was it? It was called Barbara Eden, a step for children, which was like a take off of the step for wives, and so I get, you know, work on that in a few other things.

Speaker 4:

And there's a big difference. Actually, when I go and speak at schools and things like this this is one of the things I talked to them about it says, when you hardest things, when you're going to get out of school, be the same thing for you. Like you know for what you're going to school for, you get out. You got your piece of paper that said you went to school, right, but then you got to get the job and there's a big difference from like I want to be this, I've got this paper and I want to do that, and here's some things I made. On the side there's contrast that from I just finished this gig working over here.

Speaker 4:

Now I'm looking for my next job. It positions you so different. Now it's like oh OK, you're. You know, you're not just a want to be, you're something who's had a job. It really positions you different to get out there. So getting that first one was was a big deal. So I think I think it is that way for anybody in a, in a creative industry Getting the first job when you're being legitimately paid, then you go from being just a hobby to actually oh yeah, this is right, right, it was a process.

Speaker 4:

It's not like I got that one job and then had, you know, 20 years of work. Yeah, you're still working. You're still working it and getting those gigs, and yeah, you get done with the one thing and then you know you got to have a side hustle to keep things going for you till you get the next real gig till till. I was, you know, really good up and running.

Speaker 2:

Micaela, I won't kind of ask you the same question. You're obviously younger and interested in cinematography. Do you remember what really inspired you? Or, because I know you, she worked in, you know, theater and high school and was stage manager and really enjoyed that. But what kind of shifted your mind or was there something that inspired you? I don't know if we've really ever talked about that. I know you've always liked the industry and and all of that, but what was it? Do you know what your inspiration was?

Speaker 3:

I had to think about it a little bit because I could not think of when. I thought like, oh, I want to do this.

Speaker 4:

Where'd you go to high school?

Speaker 3:

Evergreen. I know, growing up I was always into photography. Like I always had some kind of old camera in my hand, yeah, and I remember that's true.

Speaker 3:

Trying to make stupid little movies with our neighborhood friends and doing that on anything we can find, but I didn't. I don't think I really started thinking about it until later. I think the first movie that really like made me see like, just like feel that like satisfaction of seeing like a cool shot or a cool movement or cool frame, was probably the possession movie. That is probably still my favorite horror film and sometimes that I go through like periods of time where I don't watch it for a really long time and I'm like I don't even remember why I liked it so much.

Speaker 3:

And then I go back and watch it, I'm like, okay, that's why I liked it so much. And it's one of those movies where it's like I get the same feeling every time, as if it were the first time watching it and I really like think of movies that make me feel that way.

Speaker 3:

That's how paranormal activity makes me feel, is like it makes you feel or at least me. It makes me feel the same way as I felt the first time every single time I watch it, and I think I also noticed certain movements in the Sidious movies too and certain like camera angles that they use that I really appreciated.

Speaker 2:

Can you define that feeling at all, or is it just a feeling that you can't?

Speaker 3:

you just know how you feel it. Yeah, I don't know if I, if I can really Do you know what she's talking?

Speaker 2:

about Michael. You have an idea of what she's talking about. I'm not. I'm not sure I'm have that. Well, I'm not sure, but you've you know what she's talking about.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it's when a medium speaks to you. Yeah, I mean you're a singer, so I'm sure you that's probably the closest thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's songs that speak to you. It's certainly yes, and make you the emotion that you get, Make me feel yeah.

Speaker 4:

Certain songs, and that am I accurately describing, yeah. Yeah, so you have a thing and it just speaks to you and it's, it's. So, feed your soul. Yeah, that you want to create that.

Speaker 3:

Exactly, and that's how I felt a little bit too, even watching Dune 2, there were a few frames that I was like wow, like that is like yeah, it's. I just can't. I can't describe exactly what that is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, two things. Yes, it is music. Yes, sometimes I just don't think about it that way. I do, but I don't put it in the way you guys are putting it, or maybe I do and I just don't realize it. But I know when I'm on a stage and you probably feel the same way when you're in your element and you're doing well, like it's. I've told people. You know Mike Honholtz.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I remember emailing him once and I said I love doing this, I love doing worship, and I said it's really a sanctuary, which is crazy to some people because being on stage with a bunch of people is like it's terrifying, but for me, in doing that and being in that element, it's like a real. It's like real peaceful, it's like a sanctuary, it's like it's a safe place, which I know how that sounds. But that's how it feels Like when I know I'm in my element. There's like no greater feeling when I'm singing. So I guess that's probably the same thing. The one thing, the one shot. To get back to Dune two, one of my favorite shots in that was lighting. There was a lighting shot when Austin what's his name?

Speaker 3:

Austin Butler.

Speaker 2:

Austin Butler's character was walking through that cathedral area and I guess they were kind of supposed to be fireworks but it looked like it was like. To me it looked like a force field and they were shooting stuff like incomo's down on that. I don't know what it was supposed to represent, but the lighting as him and that Gal were talking was incredible. Like it was beautiful. Like that lighting, like that scene in that movie really stands out to me. Do you guys remember what it's seen I'm talking about? Because he's walking by himself and she's behind him.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, and they're talking, and it's that lighting and that lighting is incredible.

Speaker 4:

That kind of cathedral thing going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, very, very warm tones and all that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like black and white, but when they pull in real tight, that lighting, the way they do, it's just like it's art. It's amazing that same cinematographer did the Rogue One Darth Vader scene and so I went back and looked at that and I remember when everybody saw that movie and realized what that was and what was happening in that moment, because I knew it was a pre-Star Wars. But towards the end it's like all coming together. And that particular scene it's like, oh my God, this is the path that he's taking before he comes in that opening shot of New Hope. It's like, oh, this is all coming together. It was awesome, it was incredible.

Speaker 2:

That was such a great scene and he put that scene together and they were talking about that on the podcast and I'm like I remember that being one of my favorite scenes of all the Star Wars movies was that scene and how brutal that character is like, how relentless and brutal he was, like the violence that he was really capable of, and it's like man that was another one that kind of touched me in a way.

Speaker 2:

I think it did everybody, because I think everybody knew what was happening at that point. It had all kind of like come together.

Speaker 4:

It was a brilliant way to tie it together, and those that know and it was yeah, that was just awesome. It's when they get something right, something that's so right and fits so well. It's just really cool. That was one of the highlights. That whole movie was really good, though you were on Rogue One.

Speaker 4:

It was one of their better, one of the better Star Wars movies, the more current Star Wars movies I can remember being in England I was talking to some of my colleagues and they were shooting Rogue One at the same time as one of the new Star Wars movies I forget which one it was and the guys I was talking to were kind of working on both a little bit back and forth and they said they were more excited for this Rogue One thing and I went really Wow, the spinoff thing that's being made and I was like, hmm, that was my first indication that this Rogue One could end up being really good and it was.

Speaker 4:

I can see now why they said that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the other interesting thing that cinematographer was talking about was he had worked on Mando as well and as Dune 2. And Dune 2 was they talked a lot about. I can't remember what they call it, but basically the screen like the CGI, but it's not. They don't call it CGI anymore.

Speaker 4:

No, you're talking about things they have a name for. Like something, something wall or something screen or something like that, and it's brilliant what they're doing with it and it's so great because you're not having to do all that in post. It's.

Speaker 2:

But he really enjoyed because Denny the director, they went to the desert and he talked about the lighting and he broke down like using LEDs and you can't use them in the rain. And you don't want to use them in the sand and so a lot of it was like natural lighting yeah. So it's like a mix of real and and.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and that's something that I could relate to him too, cause I mean we just got done wrapping up our short film for my class and my group and I really related to one he mentioned like having to really rely on natural light and how fast that goes. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

Like the, the revenant, which is almost shot with. I think they had like no lights for that. It's all just existing, just natural light, just crazy. We used to be way back in the day when the film ASA was only like 25 ASA. They they could only shoot till like 3, 30 PM and they would have to wrap it up.

Speaker 4:

An old time makeup artist that I think is really 3, 30 PM and they would have to wrap it up. An old time makeup artist that I knew Got him Hank Eads. He worked on Ben her and I think he may have worked on 10 commandments as well, but, like you, know the big epic movies yeah. And he said you know the cinematographer would be watching the sun, looking at his watch.

Speaker 2:

Look at that.

Speaker 4:

All right, and then he would be setting down for the day. You know that would, because if the light got to some point they couldn't do that. I mean whole different film stock, whole different world. Then what? What are your favorite cinematography movies?

Speaker 3:

Well, I actually just watched one recently with a friend and I mentioned it earlier as the first insidious movie. It's been a while since I'd seen that one, but I really like how they did. Some of their movements and their framing choices were really cool and their color grading was really interesting Also.

Speaker 4:

I also like it when I mean what you can do with a camera to tell a story is just amazing. One you might want to check out is Francis Ford. Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker Tucker a man in his car. And the way the way they created those scenes is absolute genius Seeing somebody step in from one scene into another. They got this one where.

Speaker 4:

I think it's. I think it's Jeff Bridges. He's in the kitchen of his house and then he stands up and he keeps walking and now he's in Howard Hughes' aircraft hangar someplace else Such a change or things they would do with having somebody making a phone call across the country and they're really on the same stage. There's just the wall, that's in between them and how they could just move the camera and do that. They just did such clever things with camera that there's some cool ones out there.

Speaker 3:

There's some other ones that are more new. That I think of, too, is salt burn and poor things, poor things especially. Oh my gosh that was a trippy film. That whole movie, like what we talked about earlier, with like seeing a certain framers or movement, like it was like I don't even know how to describe it. It was like that, just the whole time, watching poor things and also watching salt burn, it was like, oh my gosh, this is just so cool.

Speaker 4:

That was very rich, rich textures and poor things.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Something else I was going to ask. I can't remember. I can't remember.

Speaker 3:

Oh, but yeah, I'm trying to think of I'm sure there are more. Oh, I don't remember. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Part of your class. You should tell them the one thing that you hate, that you do really well.

Speaker 4:

Oh, that sounds interesting. What's that?

Speaker 3:

I strongly dislike doing editing, like video editing, like you know, putting all the clips together and stuff. But my teacher, I mean I get great feedback from him on it and I yeah, I just hate doing it so much because it can get. I mean I guess it would feel different if I was actually like passionate about the content that I was putting together.

Speaker 2:

But what movies did he have you play around with what films?

Speaker 3:

Or what did you?

Speaker 2:

edit.

Speaker 3:

Well, we edited like Clips that were just given to us for educational purposes, like they weren't ever anything super special.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, that's that's. That's not a good way to let you do editing.

Speaker 3:

It's like no, yeah, I can get passionate about because I feel like I am pretty good at it, I mean my, my teacher at least says I am, and he and I know I do have like a kind of natural intuition with where Things were, with how things should flow.

Speaker 2:

I think it's a good challenge. I get what you're saying, but I think like I Saw some of the comments he made to her and it made him feel like the way she edited stuff.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, he said like there was one that I had to play. It was our first Multi-camera edit and he and it was like some really bad Comedian, we had to take like five minutes from a ten minute clip and you know, do Multi-camera editing for that and he said that I made an unfunny Comedian. Look funny and look good.

Speaker 4:

That's a good compliment yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, good, because it was awful.

Speaker 4:

It'd be more fun if you had some footage and then you could create your own foley for it. Mm-hmm, no people's walking the doors and the sounds and all that you could make. You could make a boring shot very rich with. Mm-hmm with just sounds of what's being done. Oh yeah for sure. And pauses, and you know that that's when they give you stuff Like that. How can they figure you're gonna get inspired?

Speaker 4:

Yeah try shooting you. I feel I'll be curious to hear, like, if you, when you start shooting your own thing and start netting it, you know, does that change it for you?

Speaker 2:

Well, she wrote what was that? A? Is it the final project that you have to do? Yeah, it's our final.

Speaker 3:

It's our final and it's. We were all put into different groups. It's our five-minute short film and I wrote the screenplay for it and then One of my other classmates he did the storyboard and then we all kind of collaborated, collaborated and like going through all those scenes and everything, and I Think one of my other group members is gonna be editing it. But I have been interested in working on color grading, which is a whole other thing in itself. It's, it's insane. Color grading is very complicated but Because but I feel like because of my experience with photography, it might, it might I don't want to say it might feel easier, because I know it won't be, but it might be easier for me to kind of find a natural Feel. For what platform are you?

Speaker 4:

editing on we use a premiere pro. Yeah, that's what I use as well, there's so many things in there. They change it around, though, which, oh yeah, frustrates me. He's like why they do that. Now I have to find to the thing that gets easily, fine, before it becomes harder, but they. There's so many great tools within that.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm yeah.

Speaker 4:

There's something that somebody taught me. It took me a while to think about it and then I went. That is true. Somebody told me that the people will put up with poor video, but they will not put up with poor audio. Yeah, you'll lose them really quick.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's laborious to listen to.

Speaker 4:

Mm-hmm or whatnot. You can get away with a lot. So that's why I kind of mentioned, you know, adding all the Foley and everything's in that you can make a Nothing shot. I'll become pretty darn interesting.

Speaker 3:

I think that's what the cinematographer of Dune 2 talked about as well, as he said he watched part of it without the score. Mm-hmm and he, like he, you know, he still felt it and everything, but once he added that music into it he was like he really felt it a lot more.

Speaker 4:

Oh yeah, the magic of Hans Zimmer, Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was listening to that soundtrack before everybody came home. Today is that I Played off my sonos app and it's in Dolby at most and it is just.

Speaker 4:

It's incredible, it's so good that guy is such a chameleon. You know some composers, I hear something, oh, oh, yeah, there's a John Williams, or there's a. Or Danny Elfman or something you know a Danny Elfman score when you hear it. But Hans Zimmer, that guy is a chameleon, I he. He's so different. He just becomes what the project needs.

Speaker 2:

It is he I can't remember if it's him or somebody else that did the Batman trilogy and the director is the in did Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah but he always uses as it Hans Zimmer. Yeah, he uses Hans Zimmer because when I listen to, because I love that Batman trilogy, it's. That's another one that I go to at least once a year. I watch that trilogy and the other one that I watch a lot is Lord of the Rings. It's classic, but that Batman trilogy is so good. But I could tell immediately when I saw Dunkirk that it was the same company, was Zimmer that did that was very similar sounding soundtrack. Now if you listen to Dune 2, it's like you said, it's can you know, completely different. It doesn't have the same elements but those two movies were like Like, okay, this same same composer, but yeah it's fun, all right.

Speaker 2:

Well, is there anything else you guys want to Talk about before we wrap up? It's probably about that time. We really didn't talk about Dune, but it was really fun conversation, yeah we talked a little bit about it it, I think it was.

Speaker 4:

It would be a really tough shoot to do, because You're either out in the desert or you're on a stage. You get to those elements and Raiders of Lost Ark was the same thing too. You got the Teneza shoot and that you also have the on stage at L Street. So you've got that tip for parts of it. But shooting out in the desert, that's rough, that's rough and he there.

Speaker 3:

I thought about that too, like and and looking at, like the costumes that they're wearing for it. Oh, that's all I thought about last night, yeah that's all I thought about.

Speaker 2:

Is those costumes that they had to wear out. That desert had to have been brutal yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

But I know like maybe some costumes like that have some kind of like I don't know, I know some Kind of cool things off.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, they have my guess is they probably didn't shoot it in the heat or something. Right something because the desert the coldest. I've ever been has been in a desert, yeah yeah, right, yeah you can look like it's really warm, like when we did Patriot games. We had some scenes where it's actually lightly raining, but when you see it in the movie, it looks like it's blazing hot and everyone's flush, and so there's things that can be done. So I imagine that, for the sake of the cast, they probably went easy on that.

Speaker 2:

You know it was one, an article I read today about.

Speaker 2:

It was Dakota Johnson and she was talking about Madam Webb and how awful like it was, just like been panned in the media and she's like she came out and she's like you know, there's some movies that you're Just not meant to do. And she's like I can't, she's like I'll never do a movie like that again, because it was. It was standing in front of a blue screen and you're they're like okay, they yell Explosion or something and you have to react to that Explosion, you have to act it out. And she's like it's not for me, I can't do it. She said it's so Unnatural and she's like I'm just not built to do those kinds of movies and on top of it, it sounds like it was just awful.

Speaker 2:

Um I don't think I'll ever do a movie like that again.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, it is like that. There's a friend of mine who lives in England and he's he's worked with Ridley Scott quite a bit and he went and did a Marvel movie. Mm-hmm where it's just all this green screen. Yeah and he just said gosh, he just was so Bummed you know, it was just really not fun. And then after that he went with Ridley, I think, to do gladiator too. That he's there we go.

Speaker 4:

We got castles and you know we have All this because Ridley shooting things that are a lot of it is, is practical right, yeah, I cannot.

Speaker 2:

I cannot wait for that movie gladiators, um, and I'm I'm not afraid of it Not being good, you know, because you don't want that, because it gladiators such a great movie you get a little nervous, but since Ridley is doing it, I'm I don't. I'm not nervous about it and I know Denzel's in it and a couple other really good actors.

Speaker 4:

I don't know, prometheus wasn't that great. Yeah, you know it. He's done what? Two alien movies now. Since then he did Prometheus and then I remember I saw that Whatever the latest, but I wasn't.

Speaker 2:

Really I was a little young for I'm not even certain that I've seen those all the way through Other originals. Yeah, I'm known about him, but I think the first one was like 79, right alien. So it's kind of a little bit out of my. I can understand why it would mean something to you, because you're just a little bit older than I am, but those didn't Capture me that much. And I saw Prometheus and I remember it being okay, but I guess you'd probably have more of a context and yeah, that was my take on that was kind of okay.

Speaker 4:

Yeah where alien was very different. That Every now, with the whole aesthetic of alien, was really unusual and it was very compelling. It's kind of the monster in the house and take the captain out right away and so they got all the everybody else and they're fighting for control and right all of what it is. And then Set 79 and then you have Jim Cameron who comes along and Does the best job on a sequel I think anyone's ever done when he's gonna take somebody else's movie that's held in such high regard and come up with an equally as good movie and not be repeating what the first movie aliens really is a very different movie, but it's an exceptional film right.

Speaker 2:

Well, I hope it's good. I really, really hope that it's. No, it is too.

Speaker 4:

He didn't do, really didn't do. Blade Runner 2, believe her, 2049 In fact did you like that one?

Speaker 2:

because I heard, I think, the cinematographer from doing to worked on that.

Speaker 4:

I think that was one of his movies, yeah there's some crossover where somebody worked on both of them. Yeah. I can't remember what was I. I did enjoy it. It's not. I Don't like it as much as the original, but the first film people expected it to be like a blockbuster, a big, big deal. The first movie wasn't. Mm-hmm. First movie wasn't that it wasn't some big hit, but it grew on people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's kind of classic.

Speaker 4:

I. I think there's some really Wonderful elements about 2049 that resonate with me. They kind of keep coming back a little bit. Some of them are disturbing, things like what the hell? Why is Jared Leto just Gut that girl? What are you doing? As that's so shocking and repulsive. But also the the other girl who's so? I Forget her name. Actually I think she's in Dune. Yeah, the girl is one of the one of the androids when the skin jobs, as they called them, and she's. She's so ruthless, mm-hmm. She said she had to tear first, which is still contrary to anyway, her character is Really really unusual. So there, there's things about it to keep coming back. I don't think it has the the impact it the first one does, but it's good I hear that they're talking about doing another one. I think it's a bad idea.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, sometimes you just have to.

Speaker 4:

Let it be, unless you get a good script. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So anything before we shut it down, any last questions or comments or anything. I.

Speaker 3:

Don't think so, not for me.

Speaker 4:

I guess my comment is thanks for having me on your show. I don't know if this is what your audience wants, or what not.

Speaker 3:

Bad, a good time talking to you guys, I don't care either.

Speaker 2:

We just like doing it. I just like to process and having people that I don't get to talk to very often in just to have a conversation and I wouldn't mind doing something with you for because I want to know which. It's kind of a different feel and but this was fun. I think we kind of plan on talking about doing to, but I I enjoyed just talking about movies and. Tvs and processes and and I knew you guys would you know your makeup and you're kind of into the cinematography, but you kind of you know about a lot of that stuff because you're on sets and and all of that and just In, just appreciate that whole genre.

Speaker 2:

So you both Appreciate it, I think, kind of in the same way. So, anyways, all right. Well, thanks to both of you. We'd love to have you back on sometime to talk about really anything, any pop culture kind of stuff for any time movies or TVs and or TV shows or whatever. But Thanks and hope you guys enjoy it.

Speaker 4:

See you, see you.

Film and Television Industry Discussion
Movie Viewing Experiences and Technology
Nostalgic Drive-in Movie Memories
Movie Nostalgia and Theater Experiences
Evolution of Creative Pursuits
Exploring Cinematography and Film Passion
Discussion on Film Editing and Soundtracks
Casual Conversation About Movies and TV