How to Become Better at Making Videos with Ryan Wilkes

In this episode we're joined by Ryan Wilkes (@ryanwilkes), a cinematographer and DoP from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Ryan shares his advice on enhancing your video skills with many nuanced suggestions. We talk about how Instagram Reels can act as a testing ground for audience preferences. We also hear about Ryan's firsthand experience with the Freefly Ember, a slow-motion camera. It leads to a further conversation about gear and when it makes sense to add new elements to your kit both logically and financially.

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Go get shooting, go get editing, and stay focused.

@sethmacey
@mantis_photography
@thephotographermindset

Transcript

00:00.00
smacey
Well you're surrounded by canadians stay Aaron that's awesome. Good good. You're in Victoria Bc Ryan is that right have you been there? How long you been there all your life.

00:54.37
aaronmannes
Ah, yeah, yeah, that's funny. Yeah, it's cool, very polite.

01:03.40
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, that's right, no two years I born raised in Calgary Alberta went to university my undergraduate in Edmonton and then moved to New Zealand for 5 years do my ph d.

01:12.34
smacey
Um, okay.

01:22.93
Ryan Wilkes
Then back to Calgary briefly for the pandemic and then out here I know I yeah I could pick them pretty well yeah, it's not about Edmonton but.

01:26.55
smacey
So all the beautiful places. Yeah, and if you're if you're american and your your sense of canadian geography is lacking pretty much I would say British Columbia and Alberta are your.

01:31.40
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

01:46.35
smacey
Really pretty places although way out east is is very is very beautiful I haven't been able to go out there but everything in the middle is flat or wet or it's not a ton of stuff this is coming from an Ontario boy right here. So um.

01:59.71
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

02:03.34
smacey
Ah, frequently gone out west just because ah you guys have all the pretty stuff very very pretty things I was just in on Vancouver on Vancouver island Ryan and I was really upset when I got back home and realized there's wild peacocks in Victoria is this true.

02:16.51
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah I mean I don't know if you could call them wild but there there are peacocks and they do kind of freely roam. But it's kind of just in Beacon Hill Park this one urban park and yeah, but there there's a ton there and they're fun.

02:31.47
smacey
How does that happen somebody just let them loose one day are they native like what's going on.

02:38.41
Ryan Wilkes
No definitely not. You know that you know that um I think you know the story was I think there was a Hobby farm many years ago and they just let them out and they just thrive here. Yeah, they kind of thrive anywhere like I mean.

02:40.54
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

02:47.11
smacey
Oh.

02:55.39
Ryan Wilkes
There's like peacocks at the Calgary zoo that just roam like they're not actually like ah like in a enclosure at the zoo. They're just like there're like part of the scenery they're wild. Yeah.

03:00.22
smacey
Um, really.

03:05.10
smacey
Right? right? Well Ryan we appreciate your time today joining us. Thank you very much for coming on shout out to dusty cressy who's been a guest twice on the show who recommended you come on um, trying to make it a habit of asking guests when they come on who they would recommend just kind of build a little.

03:06.91
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

03:15.76
Ryan Wilkes
Thanks Dasty.

03:22.81
smacey
Network there and you know endorsements mean a lot you were a bioengineer. What's up Why aren't you doing that anymore.

03:24.11
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, yeah, so back in the day I was like an athlete and hardened to academics and that was just. My wheelhouse I guess you know I was like playing hockey and rugby and track and then doing good in school so it came time to choose what I was going to pursue and looking around me at like the adults that I had as role models I was like.

03:41.25
smacey
Um, okay.

03:57.42
Ryan Wilkes
Everyone's in oil and gas is Calgary right? and so I was like I'm going to be an engineer. Yeah I thought I was like well I guess I'm going to be an engineer so went to Edmonton for school four years of materials engineering at school got out of that worked for 2 years in the oil and gas industry back in Calgary and.

03:57.85
smacey
Fair enough oil gas and beef.

03:59.98
aaronmannes
Um.

04:17.10
Ryan Wilkes
That was enough time for me to realize this is not what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and so I'd always been interested in the medical field. But you know when you're 17 and making. Big decisions. It's not you know the stuff's going to go wrong. You're just not going to nail it at that age and so it's it's one of the great truths of life. Yeah don't make big decisions when you're 17 um.

04:34.91
smacey
You mean seventeen year olds don't know what they want to do with their life is that what you're saying.

04:37.31
aaronmannes
Yeah.

04:44.57
aaronmannes
Um, that's when all the big decisions happened to yeah.

04:45.38
smacey
Right.

04:49.48
Ryan Wilkes
I know we need to change that anyways I originally wanted to be a surgeon but at 17 I was like I want to do 10 years of school but then after doing this engineering degree and being like oh my god this isn't for me I ended up doing another 5 years of school anyways. Doing my ph d in bioengineering so I was kind of doing this multidisciplinary study combining my knowledge about materials engineering and then learning more the medical side of it. So my research was developing biodegradable bone screws for bone fixation. So. Little metal screwed plates that can dissolve in your body after your bones finished healing. Yeah and the lab that I was working in is still doing the research. Um, and so.

05:26.81
smacey
Um, talk about niche.

05:32.18
smacey
Um, Wow What did anything ever come of that is that a thing now.

05:35.00
aaronmannes
Very cool.

05:45.35
Ryan Wilkes
I'm actually kind of lost touch with them over the past couple of years so I'm not sure how far they've gotten. But yeah, it's still ongoing and you know it it could make a difference in a lot of people's lives because so many of the titanium and stainless steel that gets put into folks. There's all these problems down the road like. You got these huge clusters of bone that form on top of them. Um, if you have to get it removed. The surgery is crazy super invasive and stressful and expensive for the people and you know the healthcare system if that exists um in the country you live in. So.

06:05.86
aaronmannes
Yeah.

06:11.81
aaronmannes
True.

06:17.32
smacey
Um, praying.

06:21.50
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, it has the potential to be a game changer.

06:22.78
smacey
Very very cool all right and then fast forwarding. How did you end up, you know, working on nature documentaries filming with that incredible camera of your as that we're going to get to him. We're fighting all temptation to talk about it. But how do you? How did you.

06:25.00
aaronmannes
Sure yeah.

06:37.49
Ryan Wilkes
I.

06:40.73
smacey
How did you get to worry what you're doing now man yeah, checked out your website. Lots of cool credits. Lots of great footage aquatic life canadian photographer of the year from Canadian Geographic is that correct 2022 congratulations that's a great accolade.

06:52.60
Ryan Wilkes
I was correct. Yeah, we can talk about that here. Thank you chairs. So yeah, yeah in the ocean. Thank you? Yeah, it's one of my favorites. Um, so the.

06:54.26
aaronmannes
An awesome photo. It was that the snake out of the ah out of the water that photo that photo is so cool. So cool. Yeah yeah.

07:07.89
Ryan Wilkes
Process of getting to where I am now was pretty accidental as I think it is for a lot of people I moved to New Zealand in 15 and I was all alone I'd been to New Zealand before playing rugby but like I was in a completely different part of the country didn't know anyone in the city I was living in which is Christ Church and you know when you get away from all the influences that you grew up with that you know and you know parents friends, whatever it might be all those outside influences are gone. It gives you so much time and space to think about what you actually want to do and so I just started experimenting and. Happened to have a hero for gopro at the time and I was like I'm just going to go film stuff and you know this is the age the golden age of Casey Neistatdt so of course I started vlogging and I was doing like hiking blogs and so every time every weekend you know I'd go out and make a vlog of me exploring New Zealand and it just grew Greg just grew relatively quickly. So at the end of Twenty sixteen I like got my first gig which was filming a music festival. Um, it was unpaid but it was like oh my god I get a media pasco this music festival. You know it was pretty cool. Was like camping with all the all the festival goers and everything but got a backstage pass and made a cool little edit never got used. But then I used that video pitch to a bigger festival in Christchurch and that was my first ever paid gig and from there I just kind of started.

08:33.10
smacey
Are you.

08:44.73
Ryan Wilkes
Freelancing doing you know all the regular freelancing stuff restaurants events parties, live music and then by the time it came to like 2019 so I'd been freelancing for about 2 years maybe I was like I want to tell so actual stories and. That's when me and a few friends from New Zealand went to East Africa I made my first documentary fly the roof which was about a para gliding mission from the summit of Mount Kilmanjaro so it's like the biggest the world's biggest hike and fly so you know seven days up and. 45 minutes down um saw it was really cool and then me and my my creative partner there Harry we made ah another short conservation documentary in Kenya and it was really that trip that was like okay this is this is what. Really fills my cup and this is what I want to do absolutely fly the roof.

09:43.20
smacey
Right? Can I interject in your story. So what was the name of your first documentary. Sorry I missed it. The thing that you were fly the roof so where do ideas like this come from. It's your first kind of idea for a film for a short doc. For you. How are ideas born and how do you know you have a good idea for ah for a video whether it's 30 seconds or an hour this is all opinion. Of course.

10:12.30
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, of course yeah of course everyone has different processes for me ideas come from curiosity often and just consuming. Media in different ways like maybe I'll be reading an article online and I'm like oh that's interesting if someone made a film on that and that's kind of the first step. So whether I'm speaking with someone whether I'm watching something on Netflix reading an article. I'm always just like my mind is always just being like is there a story there and then from that initial inception of like the general idea then you dive into development or like you know, really seeing like okay is there a story here. Who are the characters. What is the conflict. How much is this going to cost all that kind of stuff and so I use notion to like organize my entire brain and I have this this one subset like list and notion that is just all ideas and there's like 30 ideas there for documentaries just kind of oh it's like an amazing um like it's kind of like Evernote like a note taking platform. But yeah, exactly yeah and and I really enjoy using it for just brain dumping and keeping everything kind of.

11:26.59
smacey
Um, what's notion.

11:31.91
smacey
Okay.

11:32.54
aaronmannes
Like a project manager like that kind of thing. Yeah.

11:43.91
Ryan Wilkes
Out of here and onto paper. So don't forget Um, and so I've got all these ideas but the scary part is actually diving into them and seeing if there could be something and this is for longer form stuff right? like this is for like when I actually want to make a film and have to you know.

11:45.50
smacey
Um, right.

12:02.35
Ryan Wilkes
Make a budget and get funding and that kind of thing when it comes to shorter content. Um like the stuff I've been putting out lately on Instagram that's really like experimentation for me. It's just a bit of fun. It's kind of like a bit of a game really It's like okay, what. What do people like and like what gets people's attention and sometimes it's really surprising and so oh my good enough.

12:24.14
smacey
I was just going to say it's very surprising Sometimes you're like this is not very intriguing and then other people like what this is amazing or something you think is so incredible people look swipe.

12:32.20
aaronmannes
It no.

12:34.13
Ryan Wilkes
So this is this is one of my biggest learnings from like going semi-viral lately on Instagram is that we as creatives, photographers and videographers for the most part. It's my circle of people that I interact with most. We like we're in this like echo chamber we're in this weird little bubble where it such a high percentage of the people who follow us and and interact interact with us do the same thing that we do and so they see something and they've probably seen it before because we're.

13:04.73
smacey
A hair.

13:07.90
aaronmannes
Um.

13:12.65
Ryan Wilkes
We're just in this space. But as soon as you can break through and get regular everyday people to see your stuff. The sky's a live it and that's exactly what happened to me I like broke through the wall of just the same people seeing my stuff.

13:20.54
smacey
Um, yeah.

13:22.63
aaronmannes
Um, that's name.

13:29.28
Ryan Wilkes
And now just all these regular everyday folks who just think hummingbird are the coolest thing ever which like they are let's be um, they they love it.

13:35.29
aaronmannes
Yeah, but did you do anything to change did did you do anything to change or break through that wall where you're like okay I'm I'm doing I'm doing X Y and Z that just gets to my following or other photographers or content creators.

13:36.19
smacey
I'm one of them by the way my hands up.

13:52.60
aaronmannes
I'm hitting a wall I got to change something up. Do I need a hook do I need something different. What was the can you pinpoint what broke through or was it just a random occurrence.

14:04.27
Ryan Wilkes
There's ah it's a combination of a few things I think in my case and the first thing was posting something that not a lot of people had ever seen before so it was new and that involved the ember that involved shooting hummingbirds at. Extremely high frame rates get crazy slow motion but then on top of that it took a ton of consistency as well and so for eight weeks straight I posted every day except for a Saturday and that was about. 8 to 10 posts a week. So some days I was doing 2 3 to 4 reels 2 to 3 static posts carousel photo posts and for the first two weeks. Nothing really happened I had one the very first first slow motion clip I posted went like semi viral. Got out to like 400000 people and that for me that was insane I was like whoa but then two weeks after that nothing happened it went so quiet but I just kept consistent and then is when the craziness happened over those kind of the last five weeks of that eight-week period.

15:17.40
aaronmannes
Interesting. So just consistency staying with it having a method and and seeing it through.

15:17.73
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, so.

15:23.99
Ryan Wilkes
The hook is also like extremely important like anyone who makes stuff for instagram it's like all about the first 3 seconds like what are you promising and being a little bit like extra about. In a way you know like what are you? Yeah, what is the payoff going to be if someone sticks around for the next 7 seconds and I really focus on that I'm like okay, what am I going to show them and how do I word this carefully in very plain language so that they're going to want to see. What I have to show them? yeah.

16:02.65
aaronmannes
Yeah, make sense.

16:03.18
smacey
I remember reading somewhere I I follow this account I think it's viral video club I know if you've heard of this I love this account and it's funny because I'm not someone who like is posting reels all the time I'd like to but sometimes other things are more pressing but I think one of the things this person said was that. Fifth grade like fifth grade level verbiage or the way you word things has the most engagement statistically I don't know how they measured that but it just made me think that when you said plain in plain language that people can understand whether it's like a caption or like photo text that comes up. In the hook promising something I found that really interesting.

16:42.65
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, it's all like and I've also found that in general, not all the time but posting a few seconds of myself shot on a phone smiling behind the camera. Whatever it is with the hook over those 3 seconds

16:55.75
smacey
Um, yeah.

17:02.42
Ryan Wilkes
Those posts tend to do much better than just showing the thing right? off the bat.

17:05.48
smacey
Right? right? I do want to return to that point you brought up because it's a really good one that we're in kind of an echo chamber and I think myself included at times I've got caught up in I want to make something that impresses my peers. Of course I want to make something that I'm proud of first but I also want to make something that impresses my peers my my other photographer and videographer and content creator friends and I think Aaron you've brought this up before as well that in terms of reaching new people. Those aren't those aren't the people you're trying to. Serve with your content you want everyday people who when they see a six hundred Millimeter prime lens they go oh my god what is that or when they see an ember free fly. They're like whoa right? I mean we we get so used to thinking that a grizzly bear diving for salmon is normal because in our.

17:51.80
aaronmannes
Um.

17:51.22
Ryan Wilkes
Okay, um.

17:57.28
Ryan Wilkes
I know.

17:59.41
smacey
Tight community we see so well like how many frames are those people shooting in in an hour ten thousand like there's so many there's so much content in such a small pocket right? So it's a great point.

18:08.40
aaronmannes
Yeah, and and if you have time with a grizzly bear or a bald eagle or whatever it is and you're efficient you you might have content for three months like great content for three months of eight second clips from that 2 hour session

18:22.11
smacey
Um, yeah.

18:27.14
smacey
Are.

18:27.70
aaronmannes
Could go on forever. Ah so it does become inundated now now I think and and you see you see so many I don't know what's with my algorithm. But I'm I'm just seeing so many bald eagles and these amazing shots like it's just it's just part of my algorithm and.

18:39.61
Ryan Wilkes
A.

18:44.69
aaronmannes
That's what I've been shooting lately and it's kind of disheartening I got to like stay focused and be like I'm doing this for me and I like it. But it's like I don't want to post that photo because I just saw 400 that were like Bald Eagle was in the person's face like I like it's just not going to have. Yeah yeah, so you got to you got to like.

18:59.49
smacey
You're like oh now what I just shot's not that cool.

19:03.59
Ryan Wilkes
Ah.

19:04.28
aaronmannes
That's part of it though, but that's that's part of like reaching how can you get a hook. Ah how can you see that 1 cool moment with the bald eagle like taking you know chasing after a blue hair and that's near the nest like get something interesting so you can say you won't believe what this bald eagle just did showing yourself and people are like what to do.

19:19.45
smacey
Yeah, you know.

19:21.98
Ryan Wilkes
Drag with.

19:22.97
aaronmannes
And then they show it. It's chasing a blue heron and they're like oh that was cool even if they don't think it was that cool. They stayed to just see what did that Bald Eagle just do and I think that is kind of the trick versus if you go right? to the awesome video of a bald eagle they're like Bald Eagle got it next within 2 seconds

19:39.73
smacey
Yeah, it's important to remind ourselves though that that the stuff that we consume on a daily basis in this niche is not normal I think is the point of what Ryan was saying right is that fair to say.

19:41.54
aaronmannes
You know.

19:47.45
aaronmannes
No yeah, yeah, yeah, but you got to break through and if your audience is mostly which I think it is. It's not people.

19:48.42
Ryan Wilkes
Exactly totally? Yeah yeah.

00:19.42
smacey
So you may have noticed we just had to switch cameras the a seven four overheated it got demoted and now rnds on the FX three so it's all good. We we went to the upgrade. We made the joke that this camera we've been alluding to this freefly Amber should have recorded the rest of the rest of the podcast but you.

00:25.96
aaronmannes
Pro.

00:37.90
aaronmannes
And she asks.

00:38.95
smacey
You figured be how many terabytes of footage if we did the rest of the podcast on that bad boy.

00:43.77
Ryan Wilkes
Um I think like an hour would be about four terabytes of continuous loading. Yeah.

00:45.19
aaronmannes
Chief.

00:48.12
smacey
That's half my big drive that's insane. That's insane. Okay, well you have the free fly amber hold it up for everybody to see very cool. It's a Sony Mount correct excellent

00:51.97
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, here you go everyone? Yeah, it is an amount. However, it's a it's a dumb amount. So there's no electronic contacts and so any Sony glass like with any.

01:05.57
smacey
Um, oh.

01:09.64
Ryan Wilkes
That needs electronics to work. You can't use on this. Not even manual focus because it needs the camera communication even to do the manual focus So all new lenses as well.

01:13.29
smacey
Um.

01:16.86
aaronmannes
Ah.

01:18.21
smacey
Oh wow. Okay, so you're holding up the freefly ember explain to people listening who aren't watching on you well I'll explain to people on Youtube but there's a lot of people who are just listening.

01:20.53
aaronmannes
Oh wow.

01:24.73
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah.

01:30.18
Ryan Wilkes
Um, yeah.

01:32.12
smacey
Explain to them. They have no idea what this freefly Ember Camera is what it does why you purchased it, etc.

01:38.90
Ryan Wilkes
So the freefly ember is what we call high-speed camera. So basically it shoots slow motion at crazy frame rates. So this camera has a five k super 35 sensor and can shoot 5 k and up to 600 frames per second full 4 k in 800 and then you can go to like a letter box 2.37 to 1 and do a thousand frames per second. So. It's a pretty I have yeah yeah.

02:07.50
aaronmannes
Wow cheese.

02:08.64
smacey
Wow have you gotten it up to 1000 before wow see I would be running around everything I would make it two feet and I would want to film something but I i.

02:14.95
Ryan Wilkes
It's amazing. Yeah yeah, and.

02:17.81
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, like dropping marbles into water just for seven days straight ah

02:25.19
smacey
Exactly But I bet you it's way more difficult than you think because I bet you some things just aren't fast enough.

02:27.82
aaronmannes
I.

02:31.18
Ryan Wilkes
Exactly So this is my like dilemma with this camera I bought this for a very specific reason which is to film hummingbirds for the film that I'm currently making but I'm like okay this camera's a ton of fun and like.

02:32.55
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

02:49.16
Ryan Wilkes
Birds in general are really sweet, but even like you shoot like an eagle you shoot a bald eagle at 600 frames per second and it gets kind of boring unless it's doing something epic, but it's just flying like ah yeah, so.

02:58.73
aaronmannes
Um.

03:01.80
aaronmannes
Yeah, we are and they're bald on a hair.

03:01.49
smacey
Um, we're really hating on Eagles today Bald eagles they're getting up. They have a bad day.

03:08.19
Ryan Wilkes
It's It's a very specialized tool and while it is amazing and the footage that comes out of it is great. It's not for everything and so you know I think you know a lot of people say they would kill for this camera. But.

03:21.26
smacey
Um, right.

03:27.52
Ryan Wilkes
But like actually using it because it's an extra thing like you know I have a whole extra case with everything I need to operate this on top of my FX three and my a 7 4 and another bag and so it's a ton of kit to be luging around all. No, it's not super heavy.

03:28.50
aaronmannes
Seth's raising his end here.

03:28.53
smacey
Um, I'm a hand up for people listening on Apple.

03:35.52
smacey
Bright.

03:41.49
aaronmannes
Yeah, but you need all the lenses you said too. Yeah.

03:43.69
smacey
Um, is it heavy.

03:47.28
Ryan Wilkes
Um, like yeah, exactly so the lenses is tricky because as I said this has a dumb amount and so everything is adapted for the most part except for a couple like lao lenses that I have that are amount that are just fully manual anyways. But um. My main long lens for wildlife is like a 35 year old Nikon four hundred f three point five prime and Nikon is I mean I'm so thankful they exist right now I'm like not a Nikon fanboy or anything but like they're the camry manufacturer that kept. Like the big 3 that kept fully manual control on their lenses. The longest. So like if it wasn't for them like I'd have to go back to like Canon fds to get a long lens like four hundred Mil or bigger that had aperture control on it on the lens.

04:46.36
aaronmannes
Oh right? right? right.

04:46.43
Ryan Wilkes
Because there's no yeah I can't control any aperture your camera and so it was tricky and I did weeks of research on lenses as you can imagine to figure out what's going to give me the best bang for the buck because four hundred millimeter primes are extremely expensive and so. I could have gone with a more modern nicon lens because they kept those aperture the ature ring on the lens for a really long time but going from that four hundred f three 5 to a four hundred f two Eight was like a $5000 price increase.

05:18.15
aaronmannes
Yeah, now is that that's a Nikon mount or I thought you said a Sony Mount or does it work. So.

05:20.83
Ryan Wilkes
Was wild more than double. It is a Sony so I I adapt the Nikon lens to the mount. Yeah.

05:28.25
aaronmannes
Oh those. So there's an adapter between mounts is it like an FMount to an email I didn't know that even existed. Interesting.

05:34.30
Ryan Wilkes
Exactly? Yeah yeah.

05:35.18
smacey
Yeah, yeah, that's very cool. The first clip I ever saw shot on the freefly Ember was I think it was a coast guard helicopter I don't know if you've seen the clip and oh my God it I'll have to put in in our story.

05:46.28
aaronmannes
Yeah, that's insane.

05:47.60
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, yes.

05:55.10
smacey
Um, you can see the vortex from the blades and I thought it was ai cgi whatever I and I just couldn't believe it I was like I'm just I was so mesmerized by that thing but I can see what you're saying where there's probably a very small amount.

06:00.33
aaronmannes
Now.

06:12.55
smacey
High speeded things that you could use this for and that leads into a question of mine. Well several questions and I'll refrain from doing what I usually do where I rifle all 3 or 4 off at once but I'll start with the general one since we're on the topic of gear in your opinion. What is Gear. Do for you? What does upgrading really do for you. You mentioned that in this case, you wanted it for a specific project is that often. The reason you get gear personally.

06:41.97
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah I I only buy gear if I have a specific use if I have a need like you know I do the same thing as a lot of us probably do which is fantasize over gear look at prices all the time see if.

06:48.58
smacey
Right.

06:59.58
Ryan Wilkes
Like check marketplace like oh maybe there's a deal and like I can just justify getting the because I want it but like especially with a purchase like this you know we're talking about for the body alone Twenty Five Thousand Canadian dollars eighteen thousand USDollars like that is.

07:01.10
aaronmannes
Nice.

07:13.45
smacey
Are a.

07:16.13
Ryan Wilkes
Huge. That's the most I've ever spent on anything in my entire life but I had a very specific specific use and I had like I was married to this creative vision for this film that I had in my mind and I knew I needed a high-speed camera now when you look at the high-speed Camera market.

07:20.46
smacey
Writes.

07:35.16
Ryan Wilkes
You're either getting like a kronos or which like haven't been very good. A free-fly wave which is freefly's first high-speed camera. They released a few years ago only shoots ten eighty dynamic range is abysmal and then you're going up. The phantom and you know phantoms are a whole nother level like you need a like ton of training to use it. You need often when you hire phantom you're getting an operator as well. You can just rent a phantom and use it on your shoot and you're looking at well over fifty k for a phantom.

08:11.10
aaronmannes
Wow.

08:13.39
Ryan Wilkes
And so this was like in the range where it was like everything is solid enough. The sensor is great. The dynamic range isn't as good as like my f x three for example, which is such an amazing camera but it's good enough that if I'm careful and I light things properly. And choose my shots. It can create amazing results and I'll probably sell it honestly at the end of the year when I'm done this project and I've done a couple extra shoots for myself where I'm like I really need a high-speed shot of that for the portfolio I'll probably you know sell it off and and try to make my money back. Yeah, well I you know I would love to keep it because it's just such a great thing to have and you know was shooting so much wildlife and working on bigger wildlife productions now being able to offer this and rent it out as part of my kit.

08:50.33
smacey
Um, you don't think people have to pry it from your hands to be able to do that.

09:00.64
smacey
Um, yeah.

09:09.79
Ryan Wilkes
Is you know a pretty cool prospect. So we'll see. Yeah.

09:11.95
smacey
Right? 1 of my other so I guess in your in your mind you're envisioning I'm not really paying 25000 for this I'm paying what I'm paying minus my resale value and that's worth what I need it for for this project.

09:14.23
aaronmannes
Um.

09:27.78
Ryan Wilkes
Well that this project is also funded and so I'm.

09:29.99
smacey
Does it ever. It's that was my next point it's it does is there I'm going to make this is going to make me money or it's funded or it's not necessarily all out of my account right.

09:41.59
aaronmannes
Yeah.

09:42.35
Ryan Wilkes
Exactly so like a decent percentage of this camera is already being paid off by the project I'm working on because I'm renting the camera from my production company to that production. Yeah.

09:53.47
smacey
Right? So there's a budget and this is so important for people to hear I think when they see when they hear about insane gear like cannon's 50 to one thousand millimeter lens be seen that you shot on it too.

10:01.24
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

10:07.35
Ryan Wilkes
I've shot on it a few times yet for product. Yeah yeah.

10:11.50
smacey
Um, my buddy Slater who's been on the show a few times is gonna love hearing about this. What was your experience with it. Yeah Birdie Gregory shoots a lot of his stuff on it. Um, yeah.

10:14.60
aaronmannes
52 a that was in.

10:16.98
Ryan Wilkes
Oh My God It's an amazing. Oh Yeah I mean it's It's the gold standard in Wildlife Filming. You have a ah red raptor and the Cannon C in Twenty and that's that's the ticket to getting the shots that. No other lens can get really.

10:34.40
smacey
Yeah, this is what you're seeing in like frozen planets and blue planets and stuff like that and they're all rigged up to gimbal systems. What's the what insane yeah, that's how you're getting like polar bears just the eye and 8

10:37.32
aaronmannes
Um, ah.

10:40.88
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, everything and it's got ah, it's got a 1.5 teleconverter built it not a lot of people talk about that. It's amazing. Yeah.

10:51.91
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, yeah.

10:52.60
smacey
Million K Yeah wow, That's that's incredible. Yeah because I had written down I mean I I guess we've already answered it unless you want to weigh in a bit more at what point do you know hey I really need this piece of gear for my kit I think maybe you answer and ah, it's serving.

10:52.92
aaronmannes
Um, that's crazy.

11:09.87
smacey
Ah, clear artistic vision that makes sense financially as well either with a budget or maybe you're just like super rich right.

11:16.10
Ryan Wilkes
I mean I think you just summed it up very well. It's like do I have a creative vision that can only be executed by having this piece of kit and does it make financial sense. You don't want to put yourself in the hole for a piece of kit.

11:22.42
aaronmannes
Um.

11:34.67
smacey
Um, right.

11:35.81
Ryan Wilkes
On a project that's not going to make you money so knowing that you already have part of that paid off through whatever project you're working on and also knowing that it's going to satisfy you internally because it's going to allow you to create what you envision I Think that's huge.

11:51.57
smacey
Um, right.

11:54.28
Ryan Wilkes
But then also you know like I didn't just have to buy this monitor vmounds lenses like tripods as you know tripods are like the most expensive thing in the world when you get into fluid heads and you need a solid fluid head for wildlife. So it's a ton of yeah.

11:56.20
aaronmannes
Right? you.

11:56.44
smacey
Um, bright. Yeah.

12:08.40
smacey
Yeah, you're really private. You're weighing your tripod down right? The heavier the better I know a lot of people with that motto just for the micro shakes.

12:08.90
aaronmannes
You.

12:16.26
Ryan Wilkes
Um, um.

12:20.74
aaronmannes
Um.

12:21.33
Ryan Wilkes
Occasionally I mean it depends on how heavy of a head you're using oftentimes the camera will be heavy enough to provide enough weight. Um, and when you have a solid fluid head like it's just butter. You know you're not getting those shakes because the counterbalance and everything is just.

12:27.77
smacey
Right.

12:38.13
Ryan Wilkes
Perfect, Really? yeah.

12:38.38
smacey
Yeah, well speaking of gear. Do you think people get way too hung up on gear. Yeah, like all never be a filmmaker unless I have a red camera. For example, heard that one before what? what's your opinion on that.

12:39.86
aaronmannes
It's really cool.

12:43.46
Ryan Wilkes
I think some people do yeah I mean look like I've got oh my god oh my god I think it's garbage because you know I have like award winning images I've been published from my ghfive and my pantasonic g nine like I only switched over to full frame in the last two years for the first six years of playing with cameras I was on micro 4 thirds and still some of my favorite images that I'll probably ever make were shot on those cameras and you know I still have my my trusty ghfive because like.

13:11.14
aaronmannes
The.

13:23.60
Ryan Wilkes
Can't give it up to attach to it and um, it's just so reliable. But anyways yeah I I totally think that everyone gets way too hung up on the gear like I went through this not too long ago like before I was buying the a 7 four I was like okay I need a stills cam that can like be a b cam for or a ccam.

13:23.90
smacey
Um, right.

13:41.27
Ryan Wilkes
So shoots decent video too I'm like oh my god a seven r 5 60 megapixels like how good would that but I was like fuck man the a 7 4 is just an amazing camera gets you 90% of the way to what the a seven r five is and.

13:44.51
smacey
This is what Aaron shoots with yeah.

13:48.31
aaronmannes
Um.

14:00.19
Ryan Wilkes
Arguably is better for video and so you know I was like okay I'm going to save myself the 1500 to grand and just go at the a 7 4 but little decisions like that are coming up all the time for all of us I think and I think like you can you shouldn't upgrade until you push your gear to the limit.

14:11.37
smacey
Um, right.

14:17.90
smacey
Yeah, we've said that too. How do you know when you hit the limit just because I when it over eatats and you got to rerecord yeah that so Aaron zinged you back because you you made him have buyers remorse on his a 7 or 5

14:19.60
aaronmannes
Yeah, when it overheats that's why I need the a 7 r five.

14:19.55
Ryan Wilkes
And that's what I always do I ah.

14:34.21
aaronmannes
Great video until it overheats 8 minutes in really useful. Ah.

14:34.58
Ryan Wilkes
Very.

14:38.90
smacey
Ah I'm proud of you Aaron you got you got your zinger in good for you? Um, yeah, so I mean this is this is kind of a topic I've struggled with too from my next camera and maybe you can help me out because i'm.

14:42.86
Ryan Wilkes
Um, yeah, how about mobile.

14:54.53
smacey
I've said it before on this podcast but Ill I'll resate it here. Video photos are fun I'm always going to take photos but I feel like I need something to be a beginner at again and and kind of learn and advance through and that's for me video and I've been kind of torn between.

15:08.64
Ryan Wilkes
And.

15:13.17
smacey
Do I Get a really good hybrid camera like a seven R five or something like that or do I bite if I had to pick one or the other or do I bite the bullet on something like an fx three and if I'm feeling this way I'm sure there's a lot of other people Listening. So Would you recommend. But would you recommend in that that instance.

15:36.56
Ryan Wilkes
Well I think especially in your case Seth the a 7 or the FX three is just like such a good option and the main reason is for that twelve Thousand Eight hundred second base eye so like ah.

15:50.49
smacey
Yeah.

15:53.37
Ryan Wilkes
Number of times that saves me like literally on every shoot where I'm like if I was on any other camera right now I couldn't be shooting because I'm on a long lens I'm at like f Nine Sun's going down. How am I going to expose this properly.

16:07.39
smacey
Um, yeah.

16:10.17
Ryan Wilkes
Just go to 12800 and it saves me so much gives me that extra half hour shooting when you really need it. You know when activity happening when stuff's going down and it's clean. It's nice. Yeah.

16:17.28
smacey
Um, yeah.

16:20.41
smacey
Are you it resets and this is what I'm about to ask him? Do you know how that works from a technical standpoint everyone that I've talked to just knows that it resets at twelve Thousand Eight hundred you go back to to back to base iso. But and you get a clean shot. But i.

16:21.10
aaronmannes
Is that the base the 12

16:29.27
Ryan Wilkes
Um, ah.

16:36.49
aaronmannes
Then it sweared.

16:39.40
smacey
I didn't have yet to have anyone explain it to me like a fifth graders to return to that concept and I was wondering if you're able to or not if you're not don't worry join the club.

16:45.70
Ryan Wilkes
Um I.

16:46.18
aaronmannes
Well, it's so we get we got 800 and we get 3200 like thirty two hundred ah for my camera a um, whatever like the native vice. Yeah, so 32 times 4 isn't that twelve eight so it must be like a math thing.

16:52.49
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, yeah.

16:54.76
smacey
Native Iso yeah.

17:03.86
aaronmannes
Where the pixels or the noise or whatever is the clearest.

17:05.30
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, that's a good question I'm actually not there. You need to get gerald on done on here man he's the youth.

17:07.80
smacey
Should we ask a I while you guys talk who's that.

17:11.90
aaronmannes
Because what's 8 times 4 is 323200 times 4 is 128 so there's there's something to do with like it's got to be the the evenness of the math or the double up quadruple up.

17:18.29
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah.

17:25.29
Ryan Wilkes
But what? what is interesting is actually the the noise level at 12800 is not as clean as it is at 800. It's about the same level as it is at 3200 and so. What I will do and I shoot is like I'm not afraid to go to 3200 but if I'm going above 32 I just go to 12800 and stop down to get my exposure right? because it won't be as clean at 4000 as is at 12008? yeah.

17:51.84
aaronmannes
Um.

17:54.84
aaronmannes
Right? Weird weird.

17:57.80
smacey
So if someone wanted to get their first cinema camera and again this is just opinion. This is not gospel and they're torn between something like an FX 3 or an fx 30 what direction would you steer them in.

18:06.29
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah.

18:14.33
smacey
Asking asking for a friend.

18:14.47
aaronmannes
Yeah.

18:16.48
Ryan Wilkes
Are they just here. Are they just peer ah videographers or are they wanting to take some photos as well.

18:24.33
aaronmannes
I think that's a key question and Seth you do because your some of your livelihood is photo packages. Yeah true. Also.

18:25.79
smacey
Um, yeah.

18:30.56
smacey
This is true. But I mean I have backup cameras right? and I just like I kind of want to burn the boats a bit like I want to be going into potentially going into the field or whatever.

18:35.88
Ryan Wilkes
Um, do you have back? Um, yeah.

18:49.29
smacey
Like hey you're filming you know there's no, you're not necessarily doing like you don't have I don't want to say the easy route of taking stills because that's not fair, but what you're already familiar with right? I Think that's a better way to put it. Um.

18:52.70
aaronmannes
Yeah, yeah.

19:00.85
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, yeah.

19:06.66
Ryan Wilkes
I mean.

19:08.56
smacey
And been looking at both I don't want to overspend on something but I don't want to have to upgrade a year from now that old debate you know.

19:15.48
Ryan Wilkes
Totally that is that's very valid I mean that so 1 thing that I would say is that the fx three still has a mechanical shutter which is very handy for photography and. Although it's only a 12 megapixel sensor the photos that come out of it are pretty sweet. Um, and that second dual-based iso does play a role in photography as well. So you know you need to get your shutter speed up. It's getting dark out. You can still crank to 12000.

19:48.69
smacey
I.

19:53.98
Ryan Wilkes
800 iso for photos and get clean images. Obviously you know you throw it into topaz or light room after and clean it up more but that has also I produced some images that I'm really happy with on my Fx three um whereas the fx 30 does not have a mechanical shutter. It's electronic only and the readout speed isn't that fast and so you will get blurring in your image on a regular basis from taking photos on that even though it's a higher megapixel count I think it's like this is like 20 or 23 megapixels something around there. But.

20:19.53
aaronmannes
Good to know.

20:20.97
smacey
Um.

20:24.89
smacey
I think it is higher I thought it was 20 It could be wrong.

20:28.29
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

20:29.85
Ryan Wilkes
But in practice it doesn't make as much sense to me as F X three? yeah.

20:33.42
smacey
Okay, so.

20:33.63
aaronmannes
So that's the difference in photos between them. But now tell me I have the a 7 r five. What's the difference video wise between the FX three and a seven r five and and I'm not quizzing you if you know great. Yeah, how much.

20:44.60
Ryan Wilkes
Well the fx yeah I know a couple of things I can tell you what I know which isn't a whole thought but obviously a 7 r five can shoot 8 k.

20:46.61
smacey
This is turned into have you studied. He's back in school getting his Ph D Photographer Minds podcast.

20:53.63
aaronmannes
Work as Owny doctor. Yeah.

21:03.24
Ryan Wilkes
That correct in 24 but it's 4 2 o it's not 4 2 2 10 bit right? It's only an 8 bit. Um the f x three I guess the biggest thing for the fx 3 is shooting four k sixty and four k one 20

21:04.49
aaronmannes
Um, that is correct right? right? I believe so.

21:19.45
Ryan Wilkes
Okay, one twenty there's a slight crop. It's like 1.1 or something like that like you can notice a little bit tight. You're shooting wildlife that doesn't matter at all. We're always wanting get tighter. Um, but merely full frame four k sixty and four k one twenty ten bit

21:22.81
aaronmannes
Um.

21:26.81
smacey
E.

21:34.29
aaronmannes
Yeah, that's true.

21:37.40
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, but beautiful. Also the audio handle like if you're doing documentaries like the fact you can have 4 channels in to the FX three is huge that helps out lot. Um, yeah I mean the fan is great. Doesn't eat should have started with this. Not they some we wouldn't be.

21:43.78
aaronmannes
Okay, that's a big one. Yep.

21:56.64
aaronmannes
Yeah I cool I'm sold.

21:57.40
Ryan Wilkes
Couldn't have had that little hiccup. Um, yeah.

21:58.45
smacey
Um, so good. So good. All right, Let's move on from from gear a bit. Ah, let's get back to just the art of filmmaking in your opinion and maybe this pertains to.

22:04.57
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah.

22:13.50
smacey
You know I find it hard to believe that you got everything right? as you were improving your skills as a filmmaker. What are some things Maybe you got wrong in the beginning or throughout the process even now and you know what are some things you see maybe other people who are starting on filmmaking getting wrong simple things.

22:30.56
Ryan Wilkes
Him.

22:32.23
smacey
Maybe wrong is the wrong word. But maybe it's they're they're moving in a less efficient way than they could be.

22:38.49
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah I think 1 thing that's really underrated is like data management from the outset. So like I did a story the other day that a lot of people appreciate I was like this is how I now do.

22:44.91
smacey
Um, okay, fair.

22:56.52
Ryan Wilkes
My data management. This is what I do when I come home from a shoot where everything goes how I log it and so basically what I do is come home all the cards go on the left side of my laptop and this is kind of like my just. Brain in the physical space being like okay everything on the left side has not been dumped everything on the right has been if I have cards in the field that get full I take them out of my pack or out of the camera and I put a little piece of red gaff tape on them and the camera and the card number 1 2 3 and so I just know they're. Their hot cards. You know they're got important stuff on them I come home then goes on to my like big array and just like date. Everything. And the date is the most important thing I can't believe how many people do not put dates on their folders because for me that is the way that I can go back and really find footage easily if someone comes to me. They're like hey do you have me clips of a sea lion. Do you have any clips of this I can like. In my mind be like oh I shot sea lions at the herring spawn I go into my google calendar on my phone I see oh you're at the herring sponn these two days then I can just go on my drives and I know the exact date and the full are that looking for.

24:11.53
aaronmannes
Um.

24:12.28
smacey
Um, right.

24:13.36
Ryan Wilkes
If I'm working on a specific project like the hummingbird project I'm working on now I actually have an excel spreadsheet that is like a daily log and so what that serves as as is just a quick dump at the end of the day of what was shot on the day if there's any key shots. The location. Um. And I also put the location like in my folder structure as well. Just so it's super easy to find. Yeah but organization is so key because what happens is 3 years down the line. You're looking at a stack of ten twenty drives and you never you never want to go into them because it's Daunting. You don't know what's on them. You don't know where to begin. So just start early just like figure out a system that works for you there because like I built burn. Yeah oh god the worth ever.

24:54.26
smacey
Um, right, It's a problem that can snowball we've all deleted stuff on ah on a hot card. It's happened.

24:56.80
aaronmannes
And.

25:04.90
aaronmannes
Yeah I just recently did and is it was a painful moment I went like this so I'm gonna play it out I went oh okay for a long time I just happened to be driving and there's a. Blue heron about twenty feet from me and it didn't take off because I'm in my car and I had my camera videoing it in one twenty hd full like 600 really in and it dove down and bit a fish like got a fish came up shook it and gulped it all in frame. And I just sat on that for a while and then I had to do something and I formatted quick and I went fuck. Yeah.

25:49.57
Ryan Wilkes
Um, oh man.

25:50.26
aaronmannes
Fuck I Just did that and went okay well there's other blue herons out there? Yeah, ah.

25:51.73
smacey
And you feel so dumb after too I've done it too. You're like why? what? Why are you doing? It's just working too fast and this is to Ryan's point I mean if you have preventative measures. It's never going to happen. You can never you can never goof up like that right.

26:06.90
Ryan Wilkes
Exactly always have the the colored tape in the bag because it just like yeah what else in those early days.

26:08.96
aaronmannes
Yep yep.

26:13.41
smacey
Um, yeah, good call anything else.

26:14.96
aaronmannes
That's that is a good tip.

26:23.44
Ryan Wilkes
Um, no there There has to be.

26:23.64
smacey
It's fine to say no or you don't know sure.

26:26.20
aaronmannes
Um, what? ah more like storytelling like um I feel that that one can get lost in the weeds thousands of b rolls are like this something that throws you from the video video is vary.

26:37.23
smacey
Thinking about structure while you're filming too.

26:42.60
aaronmannes
Yeah, video is interesting because things can throw you music choices a bad sound effect that you put in at the wrong time you know, um, or or just like incongruent b-rolls just trying to fill space.

26:52.82
smacey
Or something cool happens when you're out and you get sidetracked from your original mission. You know he's laughing because like how many times does that happen bright a lot right? and you're just like where where am I.

27:01.40
aaronmannes
Um.

27:05.65
Ryan Wilkes
I Mean when you're like you know when you're a professional that can't happen like you don't like like that never happens anymore. Um, but yeah, that used to happen sometimes and I think the.

27:11.27
smacey
Fair 1

27:21.11
Ryan Wilkes
Like something that was going through my mind as you're saying that Aaron is like overshooting and not going out with a plan and it's totally fine to not go out with a plan if you're just going out for fun. But like if you're going out for a purpose you really need to think about.

27:27.77
aaronmannes
Yeah.

27:40.19
Ryan Wilkes
Every shot and how it's going to move the story forward if you're trying to tell a story if you're just creating beautiful images like that's 1 thing but crafting a story and crafting a documentary film. It's like so cutthroat. Like you're always cutting stuff where you're like this looks so good but like it doesn't serve. It's not answering the question that this film has set out hell and so if you're a shooter It's really important. And my opinion to have some editing experience so that you can put yourself in the shoes of the editor or you work very closely with an editor. You know at the higher levels. No cinematographer is editing their own stuff but at like our levels and people who are starting out I think it's super valuable to. To think like an editor so that you can pick off like those little shots that you know you need for coverage for b roll to hide cuts that kind of thing but like not going out and just like spring and praying you know? yeah.

28:50.50
aaronmannes
Um, until no.

28:50.56
smacey
Um, right? That's totally fair. Um, how do you know? you're overshooting is it as simple as veering from your shot list.

28:52.83
aaronmannes
Good advice.

29:00.86
Ryan Wilkes
No because I think that's important I think you need to to be able to veer from the shot list and pick up stuff and so much of being a documentary storyteller is following the story if you're presented with new information. You didn't have before the shoot started. Then like maybe you have to maybe you have to follow that and go there and maybe there's going to be a ton of extra footage. Um, that's not going to get used. But at least you have it and so this is always a battle in my mind. It's like fuck should should I shoot this right now and 9 times out of 10 I just shoot it because i'd.

29:23.99
smacey
Um, yeah.

29:35.79
Ryan Wilkes
Way rather have it I'm there like the the money it's spent to be there um has been spent in order for you to be there for the production to be going on I'd rather have it so that I can decide in the edit rather than like have that regret or like having to go do a pickup shoot and.

29:49.13
smacey
Ray.

29:55.45
Ryan Wilkes
Having it be like forced and not natural as it would have been in the moment.

29:57.89
smacey
Do you have a direct example that comes to mind as you're telling us that.

30:10.12
smacey
Where you're like ah I should Click Click record.

30:17.65
Ryan Wilkes
Ah, okay, well 1 example that happened very recently that actually like saved myself by putting you know like a safety in place but I'm doing this hummingbird documentary and.

30:34.18
Ryan Wilkes
The the bird that's like the main character in the story or like the main supporting character. Her chick was going to fledge very soon and so on the day that I thought the bird was going to fledge I hired a second camera I hired a sound recordist and we went there and we're setting up. And I'm like that bird seems pretty active today like I think it's going to leave the nest like pretty soon. So I just went and put my ghfive on the nest and just left it there rolling with like a huge card so it can roll for 10 hours 15 minutes after that before I had the ember set up before I had anything set up the bird took off and so like I was you know I was just like oh my god like kind of mad at myself that I wasn't there a little earlier just rolling and just just.

31:23.83
smacey
Right.

31:26.65
Ryan Wilkes
Being there just capturing the moment. But so happy that I had the wherewithal to just be like let's just put this camera up right now. So done and there's a shot so I kind of said with myself but I'm also like oh my God like exactly yeah.

31:35.99
smacey
Yeah, well you be a lot more mad if you didn't take that That's a good story. Yeah, because who knows when that's gonna happen again right.

31:42.76
aaronmannes
Yeah.

31:48.25
Ryan Wilkes
Oh and I mean never because that bird never back to the mess I've been filming that bird for six weeks so it's like the moment you know? yeah.

31:52.54
smacey
Freaking birds are like this tall this big.

31:52.65
aaronmannes
Yeah.

31:57.19
smacey
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Okay, yeah, thanks.

31:57.33
aaronmannes
The moment. It's true and and that reminds me of just like little littler moments that I fight with out in the field where you want to look the back of the camera and oh do I Just get a good photo and then something sick happens right in front of you. Versus like staying in the moment and like those pictures are there, you can look later ah versus like scrolling through and and checking it out I've done that way too many times where like shame on me but it is just something you have to fight to just be in the moment. Be where you're supposed to be do what you got to do so you don't miss things you might miss the exact shot but you're not going to miss the bulk of things and you can always check things Later. So Just those safety nets.

32:31.85
smacey
A. I Think we're talking about how small a lot of little small actions separate professionals from amateurs and that's okay, it's okay to be an amateur right? But like if you're really interested you gain that knowledge right? and you become an intermediate and then you become an advanced professional and it's.

32:46.52
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, right it it burns you so many times where you're like all right? No more not doing that again. Yeah yeah.

32:48.47
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah, exactly.

32:57.00
smacey
No more and I know I have it right? Yeah, fair enough. Um, what's when's your ah hummingbird documentary supposed to come out I know these things take time.

33:07.19
Ryan Wilkes
It's up in the air right now. But um I'm aiming for a festival release. So I'm you know the fall of this year seems like like ah a pretty good time I'm editing it right now and it's it's feeling pretty good. So um, but you know.

33:12.47
smacey
Um, okay.

33:23.72
Ryan Wilkes
Post is such a long process as well has to go through so many different hands has to go through color and sound mixing have to work with the composer to get the music right? and all this kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah.

33:25.41
smacey
Um, yeah.

33:33.90
aaronmannes
Cool.

33:36.91
smacey
Yeah, when I was on your site. There was lots of credits. Obviously for all the things you've worked On. Um you know, not necessarily documentaries that were yours but you know other ones you've worked on lots of different credits and my question was. How many photos or videos. Do you think should live on a website to showcase hey I know what I'm doing but to also not overwhelm viewers or people who potentially want to hire you like I noticed on your video Section. You have I think one video right on your website. But you're very experienced.

34:09.28
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah I mean I struggle with this all the time I I always want to share like as much as I can yeah exactly. But that's not the best. That's not the best approach and so I decided to kind of boil it down and.

34:16.18
smacey
Um, everything. Yeah.

34:28.66
Ryan Wilkes
Share my best commercial work so you're probably on my commercial page. It's like 1 Yeah from Brazil where I'm like okay this is my most recent and like my favorite work to date because I like to take on a couple like travel commercial gigs a year. It's super fun and that's kind of how I got my start in it.

34:32.54
smacey
Yeah I think so.

34:48.31
Ryan Wilkes
Um, and then like to focus on the documentary stuff. So That's like why I have that credits page because when a producer comes looking for a cinematographer they want to know what you've worked on and so that's what that's for and I've even I battle with it all the time but like I Think. My website needs a bit of a revamp in my opinion I would like to cut back What I'm sharing in my portfolio pages but then have like specific project pages so people can break out into those different pages to see what I shot on specific projects with like a bit of a description.

35:20.78
smacey
Um, yeah.

35:24.13
Ryan Wilkes
And all that kind of stuff rather than having like a big long portfolio page. Yeah yeah, one.

35:27.89
aaronmannes
Makes sense.

35:28.25
smacey
Right? Just something that's diverse right? What's your advice for people who are like oh my yeah um, I'm I'm Enthus enthusiastic listening to this episode I really want to start filming stuff more than just maybe Instagram reels or tiktoks you know. What would you say to them to get started is it as simple as just go out and start shooting. Um, you know what's what's your strategy in this regard when starting something new like this would you would your advice be.

35:53.55
Ryan Wilkes
Are we talking about documentaries in particular.

35:59.35
smacey
I Don't know let's let's let's make it super ambiguous and say I just want to film something really cool that tells a story that makes sense and I'm a total beginner. Um I think we covered a lot like storyboard have your have your shots in mind have organized files.

36:07.99
Ryan Wilkes
Um.

36:15.80
smacey
Um, is there anything more. Do you think to that or is it just as simple as having that knowledge being patient with yourself and just getting out and getting after it.

36:27.25
Ryan Wilkes
My approach has really been get out and get after it like my approach has just really been fail fast and learn fast. You know, just kind of go out with this fearless attitude a little bit.

36:31.12
aaronmannes
Oh.

36:46.57
Ryan Wilkes
Don't want to say negligent but just like just going out and making stuff regardless of the roadblocks that might be there and so you know those first two short docks that I made in East Africa completely self-funded.

36:55.92
smacey
Ah.

37:03.22
Ryan Wilkes
Um, basically and they like did festival circuits and some of the one like they won a couple awards here and there and it was just like really learning all the time like it's just like okay.

37:10.16
smacey
Um, right.

37:21.52
Ryan Wilkes
What's the structure of a story and just like having that up like printed out like on the whiteboard. It's like okay first act conflict resolution Second act conflict resolution like you know, just really trying to.

37:27.43
smacey
Um, the.

37:37.79
Ryan Wilkes
Take notes from people more experienced than me on what makes a good story but also like just just trying to like do it yourself? Um I think is so valuable at least like that's how I learn.

37:51.71
smacey
Um, okay.

37:52.80
Ryan Wilkes
If people are really interested in documentaries like there are some really great courses out there and communities out there now like like you know Mark Bone has arted documentary which is a fantastic course and the community is amazing and all of a sudden you're surrounded by. All of these people who have similar goals as year and are trying to tell stories. Um important. Yeah, if you're alone like the collaborative aspect of this job is arguably my favorite part and.

38:11.54
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

38:12.22
smacey
Um, that's important that's important surrounding yourself and putting yourself in that environment.

38:24.25
Ryan Wilkes
Everything is just so much better when you have a creative partner and you're able to bounce ideas off of each other and also have your own ideas challenged because I think that's something that gets tricky is like if you're the only 1 looking at your work and you're too close to that story or work. Whatever it is.

38:32.53
aaronmannes
Yeah.

38:42.76
Ryan Wilkes
Um, like you need to you need to have someone with a different background a different set of experiences look at your work to be able to show you a different side and maybe tell you what you're not seeing. Yeah.

38:59.88
aaronmannes
Yeah, that's that's very similar in writing right? like the writer knows the topic better than maybe anyone So it's very easy to leave out small details that the audience might not know just because you already know it. It's like common sense to you? Ah so I think.

39:16.81
aaronmannes
Viewing it as it's someone watching this for the first time or looking at Hummingbirds for the first time is kind of an important lens to at least be able to approach and look through to make sure that you are telling the story for everyone not just yourself. So.

39:31.18
Ryan Wilkes
Um, yes, um.

39:33.92
aaronmannes
I think that's important I think exercise is important in anything in terms of like practicing ask chat gp what should I film today you know like give me give me an idea and then go do it 1 thing I I like doing in the beginning of my film days. Not not my film days. But.

39:45.86
smacey
Um, yeah.

39:51.97
aaronmannes
Like getting into it was go tell a story that is a oneminute video and go tell the same story in a 10 minute video and I think that's a really good exercise to like how do you? What would you change to make this same story. Not there's not a ton added but how do you drag it out.

39:58.49
Ryan Wilkes
Good one.

40:10.77
aaronmannes
Which 1 looks better which one flows better and you find like a lot of tricks in both trying to get a point fast and ah draw out a point. Um, so I think just like little practice things like practicing. Don't wait for the gig to practice. That's what I can say and like don't wait for the gig to figure it out.

40:25.70
Ryan Wilkes
exactly exactly I think 1 thing that helped me a lot was like I think I made 120 vlogs um while I was in New Zealand and traveling so like man that repetition just.

40:28.32
smacey
Yeah.

40:30.44
aaronmannes
That's that's not great.

40:35.80
smacey
Wow.

40:39.80
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, yeah of course.

40:43.38
smacey
1 of my one of my favorite sayings. Repetition is the mother of skill. It's like it's not people think about how long until I'm successful or until I get this and I think the better way to look at is how many reps.

40:44.40
Ryan Wilkes
Just like amazing. I Like that that's.

41:03.24
smacey
Until I get this. You know what? I mean that's a much better way of looking at it and to your point too. We had a guy on Jod Davenport who said just create your own assignments. Don't wait for an assignment you want to go film red breasted lizards and I'm making that up.

41:04.72
Ryan Wilkes
Totally.

41:22.17
smacey
And wherever just just go do it. You know what? I mean maybe it's never been done before maybe that's what gets you your film festival circuit right? and that sounds very it sounds like very similar or pertaining sounds like it pertains to exactly what you did which is pretty cool and hearing you do 120 vlogs of course you're going to get better. You're going to get better every single time.

41:22.27
Ryan Wilkes
Alpa.

41:27.57
aaronmannes
From.

41:36.17
aaronmannes
Yeah.

41:38.83
Ryan Wilkes
Total. It's just it absolutely just Wraps and another thing that I think is really important is finding mentorship and that can come in different ways. It doesn't have to be like.

41:40.62
aaronmannes
Yeah.

41:40.73
smacey
It's just reps man. It's got it. That's all, ah it really is.

41:57.92
Ryan Wilkes
Traditional definition of a mentor like someone who you meet with and speak with like you can have mentors who you just consume their content and read their and listen to them but the more time you spend with that person's voice in your mind the more you will.

42:08.50
smacey
Um, yeah.

42:17.49
Ryan Wilkes
Pick up their habits. Try the things they do think like them and so if there's someone whose work you really like and they do have like an online presence I would say go seek that out and um and maybe who knows maybe they are willing to to take you on. And to have you like come Ace for them or whatever it might be don't be afraid to ask because you never know like a couple people have reached out to me in the past little while to ask to go for coffee to ask for advice like pretty new in the business and and I'm down like I'm down I will take.

42:38.19
smacey
Yeah.

42:55.95
Ryan Wilkes
An hour to go for coffee with these people because I know how important that is and how much of a game changer that can be for someone who is just starting out. Yeah.

43:05.81
smacey
Yeah, yeah, very well set and that's a great point about a mentor doesn't have to be someone you can text or call on the phone I mean I have mentors that just that are other podcasters that are other youtubers that are. Authors I mean one of the things and I say on this podcast all the time read books 10 to 15 times because you become it like it's to what you just said you it becomes more than oh I'm theorizing and reading this thing you you naturally start to it like the book s sinkncs into you or the podcast s sinkncs into you or that you become. And it's to that age old thing you become who you surround yourself with whether that's digitally or in the physical flash right? So um to wrap up. Maybe what's one piece of advice you would give yourself earlier on in your career.

43:47.66
Ryan Wilkes
Um, when.

43:57.27
smacey
And life but life but anything.

43:57.48
Ryan Wilkes
Who.

44:05.40
Ryan Wilkes
Well one piece of advice that I would give to young folks in general not just like photographers videographers artists but to young people in general is like move away. From everything you grew up with be alone for a little while and naturally you'll start to gravitate towards things that catch your interest and that can become something. Real in your life and I never I never went to New Zealand to do my ph d thinking I was going to become a filmmaker but you know it happened and it was all because. Had all this time and space to explore different things and to try new hobbies and to see like what I was actually interested in um, in in my mid 20 s and so I think that's like a super valuable life experience that you can give yourself.

45:19.50
aaronmannes
Yeah, well said.

45:20.74
smacey
Excellent ladies and gentlemen Ryan Wilkes thanks so much for joining us today buddy we appreciate it till next time.

45:20.78
Ryan Wilkes
Yeah.

45:24.64
aaronmannes
Thank you.

45:24.72
Ryan Wilkes
Thanks God It's been fun.