092 – Fitness, Diets, and Filmmaking Secrets with Jordan Post
August 22, 2024
Ever wondered how a top cinematographer stays on top of his game in the ever-changing landscape of filmmaking? Join us as we chat with Jordan, a seasoned director of photography and cinematography, about navigating the unpredictable nature of the industry. From the winter slowdown to the relentless hustle, we share firsthand experiences on keeping the business thriving. Plus, Jordan unveils his fitness secrets, including his go-to Peloton app for strength training, and how staying physically active ensures he has the stamina for those grueling long shoots.
Shifting gears, we dive into the “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM) diet, a flexible eating approach that somehow accommodates both salads and ice cream. The conversation then takes a creative turn as we dissect the collaborative process behind our latest short film project. Communication and teamwork are the stars here, helping to shape and bring our creative vision to life.
As we peel back the layers of filmmaking, we tackle the art of script reading and the crucial need for early dialogue with directors to sync up creative ideas. The challenges of working on low-budget projects require an unmatched level of adaptability. Tune in for a rich discussion on balancing meticulous planning and the nimbleness needed in the fast-paced world of filmmaking.
Topics in This Episode
- (00:02:57) The importance of fitness for filmmakers.
- (00:08:33) Different types of dieting.
- (00:13:25) Restaurant Week.
- (00:16:15) Lord What Fools.
- (00:17:03) Navigating time in filmmaking.
- (00:27:35) What would be the coolest thing to film?
- (00:28:36) Do you have a filmmaking style?
- (00:33:24) Barebells protein bar taste test.
- (00:35:43) JAKE’O Feel Your Love
- (00:44:15) Talking through the shots.
- (00:48:15) Creative collaboration.
Links
- Peloton – https://www.onepeloton.com/
- Renaissance Periodization – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfQgsKhHjSyRLOp9mnffqVg
- Jeff Nippard – https://www.youtube.com/@JeffNippard
- Mike Matthews – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGTAq2MQb2DsQi2KTMi0Jgw
- Burn Away Cakes – https://www.tiktok.com/@nathaliescakes/video/7326235115850321195?lang=en
- JAKE’O – Feel Your Love (Official Music Video) – https://youtu.be/t3bzI3ebRI8?si=5zDzoqEfDQ2Sjrxi
- Jordan’s Website –https://www.jordanhpost.com/
Transcript
Ryan Freng:
What up, what up, what up. I’m Ryan. I stole that. That’s a friend of mine who does that. We’re back with the let’s Backflip Show, happy Hour, and it’s a new format. I’m not staring at a screen, which is great, I’m going to be staring at you. So, jordan, we’ve got Jordan. Director of photography and cinematography, cinematographer, maker of pictures. Yeah, you’re here. I am. Thanks for coming, dude, good to see you.
Jordan Post:
Thanks for having me.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, we’ve already been talking for like half an hour, so I feel weird with an intro. I shouldn’t do an intro like that. You just got to stonewall.
Jordan Post:
You should have stonewalled me the whole time and just ignored me.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, how have you been?
Jordan Post:
I’ve been good. How are you doing?
Ryan Freng:
I mean good, my family’s healthy, I have a job, all that’s good.
Ryan Freng:
It’s the winter slowdown, like we talked about a little bit too, just trying to think about ways to drum up business and keep going and keep hustling. So, yeah, that’s always the slowest time of year. It’s always so. You never, you never realize. You never think you’re gonna get used to it. You just never. You just never. Yeah, isn’t it like always surprising? You’re like, you always don’t expect it, but just you know, you’re always like, did I piss someone off? Yeah, what happened? But you know, um, it’s always, that’s always just how it goes. Especially going like into the end of the year. I feel like it’s intense. I don’t know if this is how it is for you too. I feel like it is, because I remember trying to schedule stuff and you’re like I’m booked that week, I’m booked that week, yeah, um, but it’s like really intense and really hurry up and get there, and then everyone comes back from break and they’re like oh, yeah, well, maybe in a month or two, let’s talk about it. Then you’re like, ah, yeah, yeah, it starts to slow down. Yeah, it definitely starts to slow down around like december.
Jordan Post:
You know, people get the holiday eyes and just like or they have to like, get it in. Um, they’ll like get their in their financial year, yeah, um, so that’s always. I was trying to pack it in there, but yeah, I’m lucky to have a few projects coming. So so one with you guys. Actually that’d be fun. Doing the management college thing, that’s fun. I don’t know anything about it, but I know it’s going to be fun. So, yeah, I mean that’s kind of how we roll. We just we don’t tell anyone anything. And then they show up and we’re like good luck, luck, set you up for success.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, so this is cool, this is like a new format. Uh, we’re actually in my office, which is cool, you can see. You know, this is like the real happy hour back here. But I’m, I’m joining you in solidarity here, uh, in our dry January, except until tonight, until I started drinking. Um, so, thanks for coming in and just hanging. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, it’s this.
Ryan Freng:
There’s no direction. Just to be clear, there’s, uh, I mean, whatever we were talking about before, oh, you would ask like, or you had mentioned something about fitness. Oh, yeah, yeah, let’s go there. I told you to stop talking about that. I was like, I just want to talk about that.
Jordan Post:
He’s very, he’s very rude about it.
Jordan Post:
No, um, yeah, I’ve been, I’ve been working out more frequently, definitely trying to like I feel like being freelance and like, in the kind of industry we’re in, it’s like so important to like stay on top of your fitness, because you know you’ll be thrown, like you know, 20 days in a row and like you have to be able to like physically keep up with all that. So I think it’s just super important to kind of keep up. I mean, just in general too, it helps you feel better, um, so I’ve been going a little bit harder on the weights now, um and um, you know, I went really hard I think it was monday on my legs and like I was feeling it the next day. I mean it was the last. It was like the next two days. I was still feeling it today when I did another. I did another leg workout today, um, yeah, so I think it’s been, it’s been a good thing.
Jordan Post:
It also helps you, like kind of clear your mind and not think about, you know, work. Yeah, I like it. I like it to do, uh, something completely different. Yeah, cause, like, our hobby is even filmmaking, right, so on the side, we do filmmaking for fun, like we just did the Lord with fools, so we’re always kind of in the headspace. So then to do something different, I think is great and not having anyone telling you what to do, not having to communicate effectively to somebody else. Yeah, you know, um, I love that component of it.
Ryan Freng:
Uh, what, like? What kind of training are you doing?
Jordan Post:
I just have the peloton app, so, oh, that’s right. Yeah, we have, we have the bike, which is great.
Jordan Post:
But then they have a bunch of strength workouts and they you can kind of like make your own program. You’re like I just want to do like, you want to do an upper body like for 30 minutes, then I want to do like core for 10 or whatever, and you can kind of do that and then it’s gonna be able to bro split. Yeah, yeah, just, I’m gonna get so slow. Yeah, some of them are, like you know, a little misleading, though, because I did like a 10 minute core the other day and no one killed me more than like the 30 minute one. Oh really, yeah, it was just, it was not. Well, you probably base yourself out for the 30 30 minute one, whereas the 10 minute one, like some of our like beginner, intermediate, advanced too. So I never really look at those just kind of like, oh, that sounds good, it’s got some good music. You just do whatever.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, just do whatever. Yeah, that’s fun, yeah, yeah.
Ryan Freng:
Do you do it consistently at a certain time? I just say it.
Jordan Post:
Usually it’s like if I’m like really sore, it’s like, well, I’ll just take another day off and you’re, you’re pretty into it, and so I’m, I’m a little into it. You’re up at like five, 30 every day, aren’t you?
Ryan Freng:
I wake up at four 30. Four, 30. Come at me, it’s four, 30. Um it, I usually snooze once. Okay, sometimes I’ll snooze twice, it sure?
Ryan Freng:
Um, get up, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, weigh myself that’s my morning weigh-in, um, and you know, it’s like you haven’t eaten in a while. You’ve metabolized a bunch. You go to the bathroom. It’s like your lowest weigh-in that you could probably be during the day. So it’s like a cheat code. Yeah, uh, weigh-in to like down x, up b, yes, the, the konami code. Do you know the konami code? Yeah, uh, if for those listening, it’s up, up, down, down, left right, left right, ab, select, start. I think, um, it’s just some good stuff. There were the turtles in time one that it was a little bit different. It’s like select, select, start. That’s how nerdy I am.
Ryan Freng:
I have my pre-workout actually in the bathroom. I do so, yeah, so it
Jordan Post:
seems dangerous.
Ryan Freng:
I go to the bathroom, weigh in, come, change, smash the pre-workout, because it takes a little while for that to get into your system. I think an hour after you have some caffeine, you have like um, max caffeine, right, like that’s. That’s the timing when it is like the max, and then it kind of fades throughout the next 10 hours or whatever it is, um, so I try to get it as early as possible, cause then I go downstairs, I grab some fiber, maybe a little bit of carbs um, eat a little bit. Try to like pray, get like a little bit of carbs. Um, eat a little bit. Try to like pray, get like a little bit of that in. And then by that time it’s probably been about 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and then I like wander downstairs, try to get all the cameras to work.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, yeah, I guess it the my, because it’s all the hobbies coming together, like filmmaking and and fitness.
Jordan Post:
And you know, you gotta get filmmaking in there somewhere.
Ryan Freng:
I can’t do anything without filmmaking. You can’t have a normal conversation without filmmaking. I can’t have a normal conversation without filmmaking. That’s true. I think I have a problem.
Jordan Post:
Filmmakers Anonymous.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, we need a support group, filmmakers Anonymous. And then I’m doing Jeff jeff nipper are you familiar with him? Uh, no, he’s a guy to pay attention to. Uh, he’s got some programming. You can grab it for like 35 or something, and so I’ll jump on that programming for it’s usually like 10 weeks. Then I’ll do a couple cycles of it, sure, so you can get a lot out of 35 pretty good. Um, yeah, yeah, it’s all. Strength training, all the all the science is the same for everybody. Yeah, it all teaches the same thing. I’m sure, peloton, they talk a little bit about kind of some of the mechanisms and things, um, but it’s just different flavors.
Ryan Freng:
Like, you can get fit and healthy doing just about anything, any type of exercise, any type of diet, yeah, you know so, yeah, it’s easy. Yeah, what are you? What are you doing for diet?
Jordan Post:
Um, basically just trying to do low carb and just eat more veggies and not do as much sugar, um, which is carb. But how’s that been going? Pretty good, you know. Um, you know there’s definitely days where you’re like, I want that like chocolate cake, so you have. But, like you know, you can’t shame yourself about it. It’s just, you know, if you want it, you get it right.
Jordan Post:
Um, I’m not like super hardcore, like trying to like, like, get to a certain body physique, it’s more so, just trying to build up and like, um, you know, it’s like, you know, if you get a little bit bigger, that’s, that’s cool. Yeah, like you know, it’s more so practically. And like, um, you know, it’s like. You know, if you get a little bit bigger, that’s, that’s cool. Yeah, like, you know it’s more so practically. And like trying to just stay so you don’t get hurt. Yeah, like, if you don’t, so you don’t lift something wrong, and you know, pull your back and then you’re out for three weeks or something and that could be, you know, thousands of dollars.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, you’re still a young, a young buck, right? Yeah, you’re. You’re 30s, right, 34, 34. Yeah,
Jordan Post:
okay, how old are you?
Ryan Freng:
Are you old, buck, 39.
Jordan Post:
Oh, you are an old buck.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, I’m a very seasoned, seasoned deer. Um, yeah, but it’s. You get to a point where you’re, like I turned and now I have a fiery pain down my neck, through my back, just because I looked in a direction. You know it’s getting old, yeah, I know. And so like, yeah, the flexibility and mobility, yeah, do you do any mobility?
Jordan Post:
I do a lot of stretching, like usually after, and then, like on days where I’m not working out, I’ll try and stretch a little bit, but yeah, I do cardio too, so it kind of stretch a little bit. Um, but yeah, I do cardio too, so it kind of makes a little bit, a little little bit of everything.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, that’s interesting.
Ryan Freng:
I talked to a lot of people about nutritional science and fitness and health and things and it’s tough because we have so much information and somebody who seems reputable will come out and say something that’s seemingly reputable and people get really excited about it and really crazy about it. Then you’re kind of like, well, but that’s a very specific case and most people don’t need to worry about that. It’s a challenging thing because I think we can get sold a bill of goods, but if you learn the fundamentals, you can use that anywhere, like you know what you’re learning from peloton. Or there’s like renaissance spiritization. There’s jeff nippert, stronger by science. Um. Mike matthews, bigger than you’re, stronger, um, these are kind of a lot of the big foremost groups out there putting out good content, accurate content, but if you take that, it’s all very similar. They just kind of have all their own. You know flavor.
Ryan Freng:
So I always tell people it’s um, it’s simple, it’s just not easy. You know, I think it’s.
Jordan Post:
You just got to figure out what works for you too, right.
Ryan Freng:
I mean, like it has to be sustainable.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, that’s yeah. If it’s not sustainable, then you’re just not going to do it. I mean, I think it’s trying to find like enjoyment in it too, um, because if you don’t judge you, then yeah, you’re not gonna you dread it every time. You’re not gonna like it, you know, and that’s just like knowing your body and you know, I think, especially with diet, um, that one’s a hard one, you know.
Jordan Post:
I think, like you know, working with like a dietitian definitely helps a lot. My wife, um britney, worked with a dietitian, um, and she had a lot of really great advice and, um, yeah, especially, like you know, weeding those out from like the nutritionists, because the dietitians are like mds and they have a lot more knowledge on all that. Oh, I didn’t notice that distinction. Yeah, yeah, they actually go through medical school where, like nutritionists aren’t as… we, I forget what I said. Yeah, yeah, I think you could just be a certified nutrition counselor, a CNC, which is just, you go through a certification, you read a book, you take a test. Yeah, you know you go through a certification, you read a book, you take a test. Yeah, you know you go through some classes. Yeah, so definitely not an MD. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but a dietician is an MD. Huh, yeah, I didn’t know that. Yeah, that was something I didn’t know either. But, um, yeah, they had some good advice.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, well, and it’s gotta be sustainable. So I mean, that’s, that’s the biggest thing I’ve.
Ryan Freng:
Basically, I glommed on, because I’m a big sweet guy with big sweet tooth. I glommed on to if it fits your macros, which is kind of a modern poppy way of just saying eat whatever you want, um, within your caloric and macronutrient needs. So it’s not specifically keto, it’s not a paleo, low carb, it’s not uh, what’s the the meat one? Carnivore, you know. It’s not veggie, vegetarian or any of those where you focus more on certain food groups. So, like yesterday, I had a bunch of salad and chicken and greek yogurt and random things.
Ryan Freng:
And then we went out to restaurant week with some friends and I had like this leek potato soup, which was really good, and then what was my main? I had a pork chop on polenta and I had ice cream. It’s great, that’s good, yeah, yeah, we went to winter with Chris last night for restaurant week. That’s good, that’s fun. Ah, that’s good, that’s all right. Yeah, it wasn’t.
Jordan Post:
We got spoiled by there’s this place in Chicago called Gibson’s. Gibson’s A steak place. Yeah, it’s a steak place. Okay, I feel like a pretty. Yeah, they have like bone broth. So you like scoop out the bone broth, put it on toast and stuff and it’s it’s really, it’s gross Bone broth. Or, um same time, merrill Merrill, yeah, bone marrow. Yeah, that’s Luke, luke’s over there. Luke, yeah, you can’t say yeah, no, it was really good, that’s so good. Yeah, so Ruth’s Chris Chris or Chris Chris, it’s two names, that’s right. I think it was like Chris’s Steakhouse originally. That’s right, that’s right. Ruth bought it. It was Ruth, that’s fine.
Ryan Freng:
A little local flavor of stuff. Yeah, well, it’s chain, is it yeah? Yeah, yeah, it’s a pretty, it’s a chain. Yeah, so they had restaurant week even though they’re a chain. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s a chain. Yeah, it’s like other places it is. I thought it was Luke.
Ryan Freng:
Look this up right now. Yeah, let’s figure this out. Our co pilot? Yeah, look it up, do some fact checking while we’re here. We were at one.
Ryan Freng:
My drink, my Boulevardier, was very good, that’s very good, it’s like a rye, that Campari Aperol, something else Very yummy, um and uh. The food overall everyone wasn’t happy with. Yeah, yeah, it seemed like a little overcooked, a little overprepared, a little over seasoned, which, if they’re trying to crank through a bunch for a restaurant week might have been the case, but they’re in the old Brasserie V location on Monroe Gotcha, which Max’s brother used to be sous chef at oh really, which is really cool, and we always wanted to go there and then they closed down.
Jordan Post:
Oh, that sucks. Is he still a chef?
Ryan Freng:
I don’t know, let’s see he might be. Do you remember Max and my brother? Max and my brother? Oh, yeah, ruth’s Chris. Yeah, so that’s a big one. Anyone can participate in that. Yeah, I guess so. Alright, once in a while, we should probably talk about non-training. I’ll talk about that all day. But you helped us with a short film a couple of weeks ago, which is really cool. Lord, what fools. I don’t. I don’t think I have any imagery that we can share. There’s some stuff on Instagram you posted. Right, that’s true. Yeah, there’s a few frames and behind the scenes things. Yeah, that’s super fun.
Ryan Freng:
When you approach a project like this, something creative, like what is, what is kind of your process, how do you, how do you break it down and how do you work with some, somebody like me who maybe doesn’t give you all the information?
Jordan Post:
Uh, you know, yeah, I’ll start there. Sure Cause, like you’re, you’re always very communicative, which I appreciate. Like, hey, what about this? Have you thought about? Thought about this? I’m like I know we’ll talk about that later, I’m sorry, I think, yeah, I think it’s like just so.
Jordan Post:
When I read a script, I try to like, not like, I’m a very visual person, um, but I try to not visualize it in my head too much, um, because if I do that then I get stuck in a certain way and, like I might not, like that might not jive with the director. So, you know, there are times where it’s like that’s beneficial, but there are times where it’s not beneficial, where it’s like okay, like I want to know the script and no one goes on. But then, like you know, like talk to the director a little bit more and get like a better view on the script and like try to see it from their eyes more so I can bring the vision closer. And then I feel like I never thought of that. Yeah, it’s like anytime I read a script, I’m immediately like, okay, this and that, and then that, yeah, so you have to like leave that, like room, because it’s like, you know when I mean it’s like you’re not the director, you’re the director, you’re here to execute the director’s vision. Um, and you know, I mean it’s also my vision as well, but it’s, you know, I find that it helps to like get to a point where you’re not you’re not necessarily butting heads, but like it’s more so, you’re, you’re more parallel with the director, as opposed to like I was way over here and now I have to reframe my whole brain, right, um, so I try to do that, um, and that’s why I try to like talk, to talk to you sooner rather than later, so I can kind of get really familiar with the script and kind of go through it. Um, and you know, I think it’s just like finding those like emotional points too and really kind of being like okay, like we can do something different here.
Jordan Post:
You know, there’s always the shot coverage stuff and all the unique shots you find in the location scout or day of but it’s more likely day of, since we often aren’t able to scout. Some of you do have an animatic or something like that, where you go and you scout stuff and you’re like you might not have the person but you have like a little stuffed doll. You know, you put the doll in and then you can like put a voice over it and stuff and like, and you have to have some kind of camera and some kind of lens. Yeah, yeah, and usually that’s just like a still. You take some photos, um, stuff like that, but, um, so I like doing that if that’s possible.
Jordan Post:
But this one, you know, this was kind of like we were. You know it’s a free one, it’s it’s, you know, everyone’s donating their time and everyone’s working at the same time. It’s cold as crap, and
Ryan Freng:
that’s right. It was like the sunday before like the coldest week of the year. Yeah, yeah, it was. I mean, that was negative.
Ryan Freng:
Was it negative 20? What negative? No, I think it did get down to negative 14. Negative 14, one shell, yeah, no, negative 14, regular, all right, because then my kids were like oh, it’s only minus 23.
Ryan Freng:
Why is there a school? I’m like, well, the rule is minus 25 with windchill. I’m like it’s so dumb, it doesn’t make sense. I’m like it doesn’t make sense. I’m like I don’t know, like I don’t make the rules. This is the rule, though, so I gotta talk to that school. You need two more degrees. We still have like two snow days or whatever.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, um, yeah, can you imagine like we’re always so scrappy on everything, even like even paid projects. I feel like a lot of times there’s there’s like runway, runway, and then all of a sudden like, oh no, we got to do it now. Um, it’s typically not just like tons of time to work on projects. Can you imagine like to work on one film, to be able to prep for three to nine weeks? Yeah, I mean even longer than that. You know like well, but not have to do anything else? Yeah, exactly, I know for sure.
Ryan Freng:
Like you know like the features, you know it’s like the director’s brought on so far ahead and he’s working out for like six months. And then you know like the dp usually comes in, like I mean like three to six months ahead of time. Um, and extra, if you’re just like, I’ll come out for free. Yeah, yeah, um, but yeah, yeah, so like you already have, like you have so much time to really think about it, really like and like, just like with, uh, you know, like art direction does so much and like makeup does so much, and like the clothing you choose and obviously the lenses and the lighting and the camera and all that movement, but it’s just everything can really, you can really think about it, you can really put a psychology to it. And you know, if you don’t have the time to do that, it’s really difficult to do that.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, also in like you know short form stuff, which we do a lot of, like you know commercials, it’s like it’s it’s harder to communicate those things in like you know 30 seconds.
Jordan Post:
So, like, um, trying to like figure out like the psychology of that and if you can like bring you can that can add to the the story
Ryan Freng:
So I wonder if there’s a way to, if we can position projects so that we can get a like a like a micro version of that right? Yeah, so you have a commercial and then the problem is you need to prep a little beforehand in order to have that time, in case you need to buy a product or test things out. So it’s almost like you need like a month out and like a month out you have three days or something you know for commercial or whatnot. So you can test things, you can scout, you can prep, you can work through different problems and see what works, and then you have some time to pivot and change over the course of maybe just a few weeks.
Ryan Freng:
But then, because it’s like, I feel like the headspace is always so hard, like when I’m on set. It’s easy to be present and be uh 100 there and not worrying about other things, unless I get a phone call. It’s like, hey, can you take a look at this? Yeah, um, but other than that, you know, I might be prepping in an afternoon for a shoot next week, but then something comes up and I gotta jump over that and I gotta. You know, yeah, you gotta, you gotta work on that next lead too. You got to follow that lead.
Jordan Post:
That’s the hard part, for sure. Yeah, yeah, I think that’s just, you know, being in the freelance world and or you know, like, just getting your own business, yeah, Entrepreneurial world, yeah, yeah, that’s hard.
Jordan Post:
You know, I think a lot of the, you know a lot of commercial stuff. You know, I think the prep really like dials in what you want and like I feel like, if you’re doing it efficiently, you like know what you want before you even get on set. Um, but you know there’s so many, there’s so many factors too. You know, obviously you do like the prep and like 50 of it goes away, like you know, on the day of, because you’re like, well, there’s a car here now and there’s, like you know, on the day of cause you’re like, well, there’s a car here now and there’s, like you know, there’s all these things that come up. But, like, um definitely helps out a lot.
Jordan Post:
Um, to do all that at a time,
Ryan Freng:
yeah, it kind of becomes a little more paint by numbers, which is nice. Yeah, because you do the creative. You know, you flex your creative muscle the most beforehand, yeah, when you can discuss and try to deal with all the possibilities. And then on set it’s like, yeah, what do they say? You, you write the script three times. You write the script and you write it on the shoot day. You rewrite it on the shoot day, right with whatever comes up, yeah, and then you rewrite it in the edit, yeah, whatever the footage you got, you know which is which is really interesting.
Ryan Freng:
So when we’re working on like documentary stuff, it’s always very interesting when we’re approaching projects and people haven’t worked on that before, for instance, a, a company who wants um promo or some kind of advertisement, longer form, for their company or for personnel or hiring or whatever it is, and they’re like, okay, do you have a script? And part of that discussion is always really interesting that they think beforehand, before we even interviewed our subjects, that we would have an idea or a far enough developed concept, that we would have a script. You know, the most we typically do is like an outline, like all right, what are the benefits? Tell me things you like, tell me a personal story and anecdote. You know, like here’s kind of a basic outline, and a lot of times that’s good enough for most people. But then, even after we do the interviews, it’s like I don’t know we got to pull something together and see what type of emotion comes out when we put those things together in a certain way.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, um, yeah, those are very different, like you know. Like there’s like the commercial world where it’s like everything’s kind of planned out. But then you have the documentary world where it’s like, okay, we have like this idea and we have like this end goal which we think it’s gonna like, it’s gonna end on, but, like you never know, it’s like okay, we have like this idea and we have like this end goal which we think it’s gonna like, it’s gonna end on, but, like you never know, it could like pivot, yeah, and so much of it is like you know, you’re writing the story on your feet, you know, while you’re shooting you’re like, oh, wait a minute now this just changed everything, so let’s like pivot over here.
Ryan Freng:
Um, I like that. I like the energy too. Yeah, it’s very different. Yeah, yeah it there’s a lot. It’s a very different time way of shooting and very different. Like it’s very, uh, mentally taxing. I feel like, and again, oh my gosh, I get onto those dailies just sitting there and and like that’s tough Cause, we’ll we’ll often be traveling. And then it it’s six or seven o’clock and you finished a 12 hour day where your brain is constantly going and your body’s constantly going. Now it’s time to schmooze with the client. Yeah, and people are like it must be nice to travel. Like some of it is, some of it is a lot of it is hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s not like vacation. Well, it’s not like an office job where it’s like, yeah, I went and sat there from eight to three and then we went out and partied. Yeah, like, no, I was like 12 hours and then, after the schmoozy dinner, you get back at eight or nine o’clock and you have to prep for the next day, make sure the equipment’s ready, charged, transfers, yeah, oh, and, and like we figured it out like we have, um, a mirrored drive, a big one that we bring, but it’s so slow, oh yeah. So then we got a bunch of fast, um ssd drives, sure, so we just pull all the footage off onto the ssd drives, mirror them, uh, because that can take maybe an hour, yeah, as opposed to like five hours. Yeah, for sure. So you do that right away and then you transfer one of those to the mirror drive and you have all the backup and yeah, that’s then you’re gonna wake up and do it again. It’s not glorious living the dream, I don’t know, yeah, not at all. Speaking of dream like what would be the coolest thing for you to shoot? Like what if you could shoot it?
Jordan Post:
Um, I mean, I don’t know, I like shooting commercials a lot right now. Um, I think, like at this point in my life it’s like I’m kind of happy. In the arena I’m in, um, you know, it’s like I think eventually I’d want to go on to like scripted television. Or in the arena I’m in, I think eventually I’d want to go on to scripted television or movies or something like that. But right now it’s so much more flexible with family, as you know, just doing the day, playing stuff and really just having control of your schedule is everything, because you don’t get those younger years back with the kids. Right, um is everything, um, you know, cause you don’t get those younger years back with the kids and you know, um, yeah, I think I think there’s, like you know, room for growth in certain areas of that and, like you know, there’s like other things like we could be, I could be doing um and I’m working on that, but, um, I Now I’m just kind of in the commercial world is feel it feels good, yeah
Ryan Freng:
yeah, do you have anything that you can identify like as your style for for good or for worse?
Jordan Post:
You know, I don’t know. Um, that’s one thing I think I might be too close to see. Um, I definitely have like a certain way of lighting, I have a certain way of like lensing things, um, but I don’t know if I could like pinpoint it. Um, you know, it’s like if I’m thrown in a situation, it’s like, okay, I know exactly what to do. Um, but yeah, as far as a style, I don’t know, I like, I guess like a style, I don’t know. I guess I love color, anything to inject color into it in any way, whether it’s just full saturation, just a bunch of different colors that go together in a frame. I really enjoy that. Um, you know, as you know, I like color grading as well. Um, and that’s a big aspect, because I feel like color grading is one of those things that like just kind of gets put to the side and it’s like. It’s like the yeah icing on the cake.
Ryan Freng:
Even here we’re trying to focus more on that. Be like hey, we got to have regularity in this. Yeah, especially with the type of images we’re pulling, to focus more on that and be like hey, we got to have regularity in this. Yeah, especially with the type of images we’re pulling out of the red. Yeah, it’s like we can’t squander these riches.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, it’s like you got this cake and you’re like great, but it’s like you want to put icing on it, you want to put sprinkles on it, you want to put the image on those burn-away cakes. Have you seen those burn away cakes? Burn away cakes. They’re on Tik TOK. My wife showed me these. They’re like like a cake you light on fire on the top and it burns away and it shows an image. Oh, super cool. But yeah, you want that. Yeah, but you want you just, basically, you just want it Like you put some polish on it, right, yeah, I know, yeah, there’s this, it’s like it’s there.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, make it look good, you know, and the red I was doing some yesterday. It’s so nice, like just to do a basic adjustment so you do color management, but then just maybe lift, um, lift your, what is it? Gain. I don’t have the dials, I don’t know what they’re called. Lift gamma gain, yeah, yeah, so it’s probably lift your gain and pull down the gamma or the, the wait, lift, lift your game. If gamma can pull down the lift, yeah, um, a little bit, just a little bit of that. Maybe a little play with the, the gamma, kind of the mid-tones, and typically they’re like you know, sometimes a little temperature shift, but like, just to get to a basic red image, uh is so much easier than black magic. Yeah, I feel like we struggled forever with black magic because they were different cameras, different technology, different color science, like it was such a mess with that stuff. So I feel like it’s it’s much quicker now for us to get to a really solid image.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, there’s a lot of like and that’s one reason I went with like canon. Um, it’s like and like because most people don’t do a lot of color grading, and it looks great just out out of the camera.
Jordan Post:
You know, like with black magic, it’s like you have all the info there. It’s just you got to really kind of massage it. You can make it look really good. You can make most cameras look good. It’s just how much time do you want to put into it? How much do you want to really do it? Oh, did the camera die? Oh, no, is my camera dead? That camera died, not this one.
Ryan Freng:
Oh, jordan’s camera died? Yeah, no, not that one. That camera’s going. Yo, also, we are live. So if you have questions, luke can tell me the questions. I can send them over there. Let’s see. You mean it better. Bevets, bevets. What did I say? I don’t remember. Oh, I said Gibsons, let’s see, you need a battery. Babitz, babitz, babitz, babitz. What did I say? I don’t remember? Oh, I said Gibsons, gibsons, no, babitz. Yeah, max, you need a battery, shoot me. Works at? Oh, he’s still a chef. He works at Cassette Kitchen and Counter Cassetta. It’s a fantastic lunch spot. Nice, we’ll have to get some lunch from there. Cassetta’s just good. They have the best cookies. Oh, you know what it was over here, timer? It turned itself off. It’ll do it, that’ll do, that’ll do, that’ll do, that’ll do, that’ll do. Pay me Bavets, yeah, bavets. Thanks, babe, appreciate it. Oh, dude, here let’s do this because why not? You should pick one of these and then try a little taste. Jordan has introduced me to some awesome protein bars in the past. Here’s one that got advertised to me. What do we got? This was a new game. We’ve got great marketing, great customer service.
Jordan Post:
What are they?
Ryan Freng:
Bear bells, and the puffs are like marshmallowy Brownie batter. You know if it fits your current dietary needs. I want you to try one. There’s so many options. It’s a variety of things.
Jordan Post:
Am I supposed to eat it on camera?
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, is that what’s supposed to happen? It on camera? Yeah, is that what’s supposed to happen? Yeah, can we zoom in on that? It’s a new game. That’s pretty good, is it? Yeah, have you ever tried it? I don’t know that. I’ve had the salted caramel. I had a different one and it tasted like vomit. And I wrote to them. I was like can I get a refund? One? And it tasted like vomit. And I wrote to them I was like can I get a refund? They’re like no, like, we’ll give you $3 back. I tried a second one. It was less bad, and I tried a third one. Third one was good. So I was like I think this one that I got was just not good. So I was kind of hoping you would have a bad experience. I mean, we’re playing flavor roulette here. My kids have the jelly beans that like Every uh, jelly belly, what are the? I can’t remember what it’s called Brittany, what’s it called? Jelly? The jelly beans, every flavor beans. I mean that’s the Harry Potter. No, they’re like, uh, there’s like a wheel, yeah, you spin them. Yeah, yeah, we’ve got those. Yeah, well, it’s, either it’s either like bean boozled That’ske, yeah, or no, it’s a spoiled milk, yeah, so it’s good, it’s a good game, yeah. So, thinking about style and we, you mentioned color, like I feel like that kind of bears out too, and in the music video you did, sure, really really cool, which maybe we can link to somehow. Oh, jacobaco, feel your love, jaco, feel your love. That one was really cool. That inspired us to use the projector for something else. Oh, yeah, um, did we ever show you that? No, I don’t think so. Here I’ll pull it up, sure, uh, I think if you follow us on instagram, you will have seen it. Oh, dude, you want to see what I have on my finger, what I have on you have on your finger. So, I don’t know, this is like a. This this makes a really good podcast, uh, but I was uh, I don’t know if I want to see it. I was using the vegetable slicer. No, I don’t want to see it. This, this is like my slightly healing version, but the the question is I don’t know how much of my finger is dead. Oh god, no, I’m laughing. It’s like because I like sliced a good chunk man. The mandolin is that what it is? The slicer, yeah, it’s like a mandolin. Um, well, this one’s like a bucket and you can put different things on top and it has like a straight blade, essentially. And I was like, yeah, hit my finger, like, ah, I just wrapped it up. Well, they make a glove. A friend of mine was like why don’t you have the glove? I’m like, cause I’m apparently an idiot, like, I’m just not that I know. Okay, that’s not the picture I show you, though. Um, that’s a good one, though. Yeah, like, how far down did I go? I don’t want to say that I don’t want to say it. Uh, I survived, though I’ll likely. Oh, this is not so. This is I got the creamy nutrition. This is like my evening ice cream. That’s right you do like. Uh, you get, I don’t see what. I had enough calories, so I threw a a Reese’s peanut butter cup on top. So good, let’s see. These pictures are in chat. What’s that? Yeah, that’d be awesome. We’ll share in chat these two. If you look on our Insta as well, all the photos we posted from the Lord of Fools shoot. This is the short film. This isn’t, but
Jordan Post:
were you going to show me the projector?
Ryan Freng:
I was. I just keep running into other photos. Let’s see, this is for our client, the antimatter chair, which is cool. It’s like a seven ounce, eight ounce chair, uh, that hikers and climbers can bring so that they can sit comfortably on like a rock or the ground. Um, and we wanted to you know kind of smaller budget in studio, but we wanted to show them outside. So we’re like, hey, let’s try the projector on the wall and we’ll do it in a stylized way. Excuse me, the gift that keeps on giving. We’ll do it in a stylized way so it doesn’t feel like we’re trying for realism. We don’t hit that uncanny valley, you know sure, because, like, when you hit that, it just doesn’t look great. Yeah, um, let’s see, luke, can you, can you pull it up on our instagram and then tab too, and what? We can share this with the viewers, the viewers at home too. Oh, here we go. Yeah, if you okay, click on that. You got to learn the vast dude. Well, um, also, if you take, if you grab the top bar and kind of push it up towards the top of the window, it will no, what do you what? What are you doing? No, no, yes, that that, yes,
Jordan Post:
I feel like we should just tell luke what to do for the whole podcast.
Ryan Freng:
It makes for good radio, comedically too. They’re like, let’s do one where he’s walking, nice, so we have a tree passing by, so likely we’ll need to add some contrast in the background for the grade. Yeah, that’s one thing inspired by Jordan, but like, that’s why they have the LED walls.
Jordan Post:
Is that John? Oh, no,
Ryan Freng:
no, okay, that might be somebody in Lake Judge. Yes, you should be able to. Yeah, in, um, milwaukee, I think it’s. Uh, plum, plum.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, they have an led wall.
Ryan Freng:
Yeah, and I saw their psych. It’s pretty, it’s pretty cool. I would love to shoot there. I think it’s just crazy expensive. Oh yeah, look at that, that’s cool. There you go, yeah, and there, I think it’s just crazy expensive. Oh yeah, look at that, that’s cool. There you go, yeah, and it’s all kind of stylized and again, we’ll add contrast in. I think you’re looking at the same thing that we have. But yeah, it was super fun Because Jordan did it first, even that it almost plays, yeah, which is super fun. Yeah, it’s one thing I did a lot with, like um with daniel this week, used a lot of like projections too. Oh, really, um, daily kinney, yeah, yeah, um, here you go. Is that loot? Yeah, I like that dude. My wife was like you have so many pictures of loot. I was like you don’t understand how he’s a part of everything. Yeah, and I have to take pictures of him. Yeah, just, your projectors are fun. You can do a lot of like really crazy things. You came,
Jordan Post:
jaco came to me and had like this idea for this world didn’t have any budget and I was just kind of like well, let’s just use a projector and just get lots of haze and like let’s just like use it in every single way I can think of, and, um, it was a fun shoot for sure. Um, we definitely like I definitely learned a few things and, um, definitely, like I’m applying some of that stuff to like even, like you know, paid shoots and stuff, right, um, it’s just kind of a fun one where you can just be creative. So, um, yeah, definitely enjoyed it. And then, like the color grade too. It’s like, since we use so much colors like that, I had a blast with that because that was just, you really just push everything, um and just make it. There’s a lot of in-camera effects too. Right, everything was in camera. Yeah, I was like that was really cool. Yeah, there, I mean like, with the exception of, like some like fades from like, yeah, so, daniel, out of that, could you pull that up? Pull the? Thank you, what’s that? I mean we’ll pull it back up so we can see the video. Oh, camera died. Switch it back. Switch to me probably. Turn that timer up, but, um, I feel like it was like 10 minutes. Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s just, it’s at the asap, I don’t know if you can turn it off. That’s a73, that’s a73. Well, and you know if we do more of these.
Ryan Freng:
Maybe we’ll pick up the uh, what is it? Mini, mini studio cameras, oh, the black, the black magics, which are like this big, hey, those little balls, yeah, and it’s this well, they’re not circular, but they’re, you know. But it’s the same sensor as the Pocket, pocket 4K, pocket 6K, I don’t know. So it seems like a much better sensor than the studio cameras. Yeah, the studio ones are garbage. Micro four-thirds, right, yeah, I, I mean, they’re not. So if you have enough light, they’re not garbage. It’s just tough because micro four-thirds, which means it’s like so telephoto, when you throw any lens on there, at least it’s so crop, yeah, you know, um, was that two, two and a half times two, two, two point three33 or something? Yeah, something like that. He’s the micro for third crop. So there’s 16 becomes 32 plus four or five, 37, 38. So it was really hard to do. And then it’s super, like you need tons of light, which I don’t know how much conference stuff you do, but there’s never any, you know, and it’s like they set it up and it’s just a can lighting usually. So, oh my gosh. And then, like can you set up lights for us? And like I want to be helpful. I want to serve, but, like my money, yeah, you want me to set up like a ten thousand dollar like production package?
Jordan Post:
Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, well, let’s get that going, yeah, so that one, that was the projector behind him and that one was actually so, that one was a crazy one, that one was trippy, so basically what I did. So there’s a projector, so there’s a okay, so I’m rear projecting onto a screen that’s behind it. Go back to the other one. Uh, that one, yeah, go back to the other one. Uh, that one, yeah. So he’s standing in front of me and then behind him is a screen that it that I’m feeding the image I’m shooting into the projector. So, wait, talk me through that again. So I’m shooting him and he’s in front of me, behind him is a screen and on that screen I’m rear projecting the image I’m shooting of him. Oh, yes, yes, so whenever I move, it’s slightly delayed and it kind of repeats him on the background and it’s cool. So that one was kind of fun to shoot. You get like an infinity effect too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it definitely had some really wild effects. We should try to pull that up too. After he talks us through a few more of these. That one is just sitting in the basement with some, uh, some fishing line on the lens, oh, okay, so that gives all jj rooms. Yeah, that gives it the um. That’s also. It’s also um, a russian lens, um, that has a really interesting look wide open, but, um, yeah, with the fishing line in front, it gives it that streak edge, yeah, like anamorphic. Yeah, there, that one’s just, you know, that’s a rear projection with them standing behind um, and basically, basically, they’re in between the projector and the screen. So so, and that’s you on the left right. No, that’s Jacob’s wife. Oh, okay, yeah, um, jacob and Gigi, yeah, was there the other one? There was one that was actually. That was. It was the, remember, the one we did with the teleprompter.
Ryan Freng:
It should be in there. Oh, up there, I love that one of your photos. Is that one of me? Oh yeah, I love dude, I love having you on for photo shoots too, because it means I probably get like updated headshots, like I’m here, like let’s do it, yeah, so this one right here.
Jordan Post:
This was an interesting photo, um, that one. So what I did to get that? Okay, so, deep breath, basically. So I, I’m the camera guy. Okay, I have a piece of teleprompter glass that’s at a 45 degree vertical angle in front of the camera. So basically, I turn a teleprompter on its side, okay, right, so 90 degrees to the right of the camera, there’s a screen with the images being projected onto it, right, do you understand that? So far A big screen. So there’s a screen like there’s the 12 by over there. Okay, that I’m projecting an image onto, so that reflection is being picked up by the teleprompter screen and going into the camera. I see jaco is behind the teleprompter screen and with lit one light on him. Yes, yep, maybe there’s two lights. But then I have gg wife. She is blocking the reflection. So she’s the silhouette. She’s the silhouette, yeah, or the hand. The hand yeah, he’s the silhouette, yeah, you see his face. So it kind of gives us like super imposition, kind of like feel, and it’s just kind of this amorphous Switch the camera up. So yeah, that one was fun. That one was really like almost like cool to just kind of workshop. It was kind of like a last minute idea. I was like wait a minute, I have this idea. I wonder if it’ll work.
Ryan Freng:
Did you do that on set?
Jordan Post:
I kind of thought about it a little bit beforehand, but I wasn’t sure how it was going to look. You just kind of figure out some elements, like, okay, you go here and this, we’ll try this. Yeah, it’s like, let’s try this and see what this looks like. And then, yeah, yeah, I don’t, I can’t really remember exactly how it happened, but, um, you know everyone on set luke was on set, cheney was on set, you know gg and um jaco and they all, you know we all kind of collaborated, but that’s kind of collaborated, but it was a, it was a fun collaboration. So I like that too, like the creative and figuring out how to work together and do something unique.
Ryan Freng:
Uh, when there’s maybe a little less pressure of time, yeah, and it is like, you know it’s, it’s interesting. Like, when more people are donating time, I’m like, yeah, I will, I will get more opinions. It’s probably like more of a criticism of myself, like I should listen to people around me more. But when I work on a creative project, it’s like, well, everyone’s here giving their time and I want to give them, you know, the, the respect and, you know, have them be more a part of the process. Yeah, maybe because it’s lower stakes too in some cases. But yeah, I mean, I definitely think it’s like. It’s kind of like, yeah, you give your time, it’s like, and you know it’s like you should be able to be creative. Yeah, like it’s like in some sort of aspect obviously you can’t have everyone giving every idea under the sun. It’s like new PAs. But, yeah, you idea under the sun, it’s like new pas. But yeah, yeah, you should try this and you’re like, yeah, well, let’s talk. We could talk more about lunch or at lunch. But yeah, like, while I’m trying to achieve this, while jordan and I are trying to figure out how we can achieve this, like it’s not helpful to add that in.
Jordan Post:
Yeah, you know, and sometimes, like I’ve had great ideas from pas too, like I’ve like it’s, it’s something that you know, it’s like maybe you might be like, oh, that, yeah, like I, I know why that wouldn’t work. Like, oh, let’s talk about that later or something like that, or, and it’s it’s like the right time. Yeah, yeah, um, but yeah, I’ve definitely, you know that’s. I try not to like discount anyone on set, because you know, um, in that, in that scenario, because like it could be a good idea, you know. And yeah, well, yeah, and again to that creative problem solving.
Ryan Freng:
I really, really like, um, I really like that energy of, and then I feel like we do this a bunch too, like like, let’s be goofy. Yeah, you know what does that mean? Uh, it doesn’t mean like tell terrible jokes although I will tell terrible jokes, um, but it’s like, well, let’s throw some gack in front, let’s do a weird angle, let’s do something with reflection or shapes and you know, whatever I feel like I’ve always appreciated that about you being able to roll with that and just be like I don’t know, I got this, let me try this. Yeah, perfect, you know. Or if, uh, I’m not around and sending you over to a different area, like just get weird with it. Now, I know I can trust you to try to experiment and you know, I think like that is where we find the things that we love, like a shot or an angle or a technique, or like when we were working on the UW project back in the day and like I think that started our gackiness, like sort of the putting random stuff in front, and then you got more items to put in front and I bought things and now that’s just a part of our filmmaking, our cinematic vernacular, almost yeah. And the bubbles in these are can you, is that what it is overheating? How’s it overheating those cameras? That camera never overheats. We can do one of these. What if we get everybody in the shot? Not a bad shot. You’ll just have to sit next to me like this. So that makes me awkwardly like getting. Uh, does this camera work or no? Oh, it’s on. Dude, that’s crazy. I never have either. Oh, sony cameras. I run that like daily. Yeah. Yeah, that’s like one of my stream. I use it as a stream. Really interesting. Did you fix my, my angle? I didn’t go back to it. He, oh, you killed that. I guess it’s a little bit. Where is that? Yeah, right there, it’s good, cool, that’s cool. I like, I’m gonna see. Maybe we get the program up next time. You know, let’s see. All right, I gotta get you out of here. I gotta get out of here too. I’d love to next time. We’ll just carve off more time.
Jordan Post:
Sure, probably have more structures.
Ryan Freng:
No, I don’t want to have structure. There’s enough structure and anxiety from structure in my life that that makes sense just hanging. Yeah, like is awesome. I want to talk about more things, but it would just be better to have more time, but I’m happy that we were able to carve some time. It’s a very busy week this week, for sure, yeah, so anything else you want to promote as we wind down here, share any words of wisdom,
Jordan Post:
I don’t know. I mean, I guess you can always check me out at my website, jordan period or JordanPostcom Not the Jordan Post, but Jordan H as in house post. Jordan Post is a newspaper in Jordan. Ah, yeah, you compete with yeah, you know, for views or clicks. Yeah, yeah, people are always coming. They’re like where’s the news? Yeah, so the h is important, um, but, yeah, now you can always find me there. I’m on instagram too. Um, you got a new reel coming out, so that’ll be.
Ryan Freng:
I’m excited for that. We’ll be getting soon, so, um, that’ll be cool. I can’t wait to see stuff you’ve worked on that are not with us. Sure, I’ll be like let’s do this. Yeah, I want to steal that to his end, sounds good. Yeah, yeah, I’m down to do whatever. Yeah, that sounds good. That’d be cool. Well, thanks for coming on, dude. Yeah, thanks, um, thanks for jumping in everyone and hanging with us. We’re getting this going again. We want to bring in more of our friends and fun people and new people. Uh, so let us know if there’s somebody in particular you’d love us to have on, or if you have a connection with somebody Love to do that. It’s going to be random like this. It’s just going to kind of be us hanging because I want us to have the most fun. I hope you guys have fun too, but mostly it’s for us. That’s what we got. This is a podcast. You can get it where all podcasts are sold. I probably will do all that stuff. At the end We’ll be fine. I feel like that’s what we got. Podcasts are just free. Wait, you didn’t pay for your podcast. No, well, you can certainly buy this one. Um, that’s it. That’s all we got. Thanks for hanging. We’ll see you next time.
