Generating Content for Retention, Long vs. Short Form Video, & Creating Content for NFL Live with Josh Veon

Today we're joined by Josh Veon (@joshveon), a Pittsburgh videographer and founder of Orchard Eight Media. Josh works for NFL Live making content for their socials. In this episode, we discussed creating social media content for NFL Live, delving into the immersive experience of living and breathing content creation around the clock during a collaboration project with Mr. Beast. We explored the enchantment of fostering passion within both your audience and yourself for the content or visual media being created, as well as strategies for boosting viewer retention across short and long-form content. Additionally, we delved into the perennial debate of quantity versus quality in the realm of content creation.

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

@sethmacey
@mantis_photography
@thephotographermindset

Transcript

INTRO:

00:00.00
smacey
Hey welcome back to another episode of the Photographer mindset podcast I'm half of the co-hosting team here Seth Macey.

00:05.68
aaronmannes
And on the other half Aaron Mannes

00:10.80
smacey
And we had a great episode today with Josh Vion rhymes with neon I had to ask him before we even started recording. Ah he shoots for the Nfl live and Mlb live. We didn't really get too much into that but we talked a lot about long form content short form content.

00:28.10
smacey
Retention you know exploiting things that are working for us. Those are some of the key themes of today just mentioning those so people keep their ears open during those sections. You should have them open for every section but especially especially those ones Josh has his own visual media company orchard 8 and. Sorry buddy I got to restart because my camera started beeping because I was about to it does that when it's on autos safee all right 3 2 1 welcome back to another episode of the photographer mindset podcast I'm half the co-hosting team here Seth Macy

00:50.90
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

00:59.28
aaronmannes
And on the other half Aaron Manus

01:02.28
smacey
And today we had on Josh vion who creates social media content for the Nfl live. He also does a lot of other things. He's his own visual media company called orchard 8 his own podcast called the mvmvppodcast doing a lot of cool lot of different cool things and so. A lot of interesting themes today talked a lot about short form content long form content viewer retention exploiting things that are working in your favor. Those are some of the key themes that people should really have their ears open for what did you think of today's episode what am I missing.

01:39.68
aaronmannes
It was a really nice meeting Josh it's the first time we've chatted um, he's from Pittsburgh ah good friends with Ian Jones as we all know now. Um and I was just impressed with his yeah exploring and exploiting that was kind of one of the themes. So.

01:47.61
smacey
Um.

01:55.34
aaronmannes
I Thought it was really cool I Hope you guys like it. Let's get into it soon. But yes.

01:57.96
smacey
But before we get into it soon. Sign up for that Alaska trick. We have 2 spots left our third annual Tpm retreat in July it's in the episode description. You can click the link. You can also find it on our Instagram bio will take you to our website. Gonna be an epic five night trip we're talking bears wildlife glacier cruises. We got 2 spots left out of 4 we. Want it to be full. So go sign up now and hopefully for you. They're still open.

02:22.21
aaronmannes
Yep, Bears are booked booked.

02:31.75
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

02:36.75
smacey
Ah, the time this episode airs.

02:38.58
aaronmannes
Yeah, if you have any questions any thoughts concerns about it reach out. We can We can help explain um the trip I I am so psyched for it every time that we're booking like a new piece of it. It's just it's unbelievable. I cannot wait and we want you to be there. Whomever you are.

02:56.17
smacey
Absolutely it's gonna be crazy. So yep, head to the link in the episode description or in our bio on Instagram and as always if you're liking these episodes cost-f free tremendously effective way to support the show is to leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We really really do appreciate it. We're only 7 away from 200 ratings on Spotify so help us get to that 200 number be very much appreciated and with that let's get into our episode with Josh Veon right after a word from our sponsor.

INTERVIEW:

02:06.20
smacey
First of all, thank you for for joining us today. Um, never had a a Nfl live content creator. We're going to talk a lot about that. Um, you know you have your media company orchard 8 have your podcast your screaming versatility. Um, where's the best place to begin I'm going to put it on you because I think the theme of today is probably going to be not necessarily having one set identity as a creator we talk a lot about having our eggs in a lot of different baskets. Being more than just a photographer of course this is the photographer mindset. We advocate for being hybrid creators for lack of a better term so. Where do you think the best place to start with who you are and what you do and kind of how you got into what you're doing now with all the with all the. The enterprises you have on the go.

03:05.17
Josh
yeah yeah I love that um I'd say the best place to start I think I'll take you through kind of like halfway point of college to the end and that's where the the journey started for me and then that took me ultimately to the Nfl gig and then my own business as well. But um.

03:17.94
smacey
And how old are you just to start for reference. Wow! Awesome! Okay, cool I swear I won't interrupt too many times.

03:23.11
Josh
Ah, 2024 years old

03:29.73
Josh
Ah, now you're good. Yeah so I mean about halfway through college. Um I'd been like flying drones for fun, really not really for creative purposes hadn't had like social media or anything outside of like I had ah. And Instagram just to like follow friends and a snapchat to communicate whatever but hadn't been like doing any content. Um, so had this drone started to get some cool stuff so this was around like 20182019 and just randomly was like I'm going to post this. Ah. This clip it was like a video of a golf course. The one summer so I posted it and got like a little bit of traction from that had some friends reach out like oh this is so sweet this is sick. Um, so that kind of like inspired me to like to double down a little bit on it and. Started to watch more Youtube videos from creators like Rory Kramer and Matt Como um Sam Colder a lot of those type of video creators and really thought what they were doing was awesome. Um, and was I really wanted to do that. So it kind of lit the fire at the time.

04:39.44
smacey
Um.

04:41.51
Josh
I was a computer science major at at Westminster College was a small school about 1000 students here in pa and so I hadn't really been starting anything creative wise. Um so started doing more of the drone stuff posted more on social media. Spring of my junior year comes around and had a class with this kid named Connor Wilson and at the time he was working for the football team on campus and his job was to fly the drone above their practices. They could get like the madden view of the field for game film purposes and all that stuff.

05:13.80
smacey
Ah.

05:18.80
Josh
And he was about to graduate and they needed somebody to take his spot so he just like hey man like I know you're you're interested or you're in the drones and I've seen some of your work would it be something. You'd be interested or just come out and check out what I do and I was like sure. Ah so I went out there and saw what he did. And um, thought it was weekss I was like well I'll get like a little stipend to fly drones like pretty cool. Um, so I went and took that job the following August we went back for my um, my senior year or. Sorry that might have been a spring of my sophomore years whenever I took the job went back my junior year and that's when I actually started ah so went through camp did all that stuff with flying the drone really was nothing creative about it other than just push and record and all that. Um, but on game days we couldn't use the drone. It was just not allowed so I had more time to like do whatever and I had started to see some other creators that were part of like the Nfl program the lcc program creating these cool videos and a lot of like the. College teams started to have like really creative videographers and everything I was like I kind of want to do that so I didn't have ah a handheld camera or anything yet did some research and learned about the panasonic g h five and that seemed like a good bad just cause you were able to do like.

06:48.43
Josh
60 frames per second and won twenty frames per second for slow motion I was like it's be a good investment so went the day of the first game to this camera store in Youngstown and bought this camera spent like a good chunk of the money I made over the summer. Um.

06:49.35
smacey
And.

07:02.39
smacey
Um.

07:05.00
Josh
And then kind of figured it out for that first game I was only able to film warmups that first game. Ah, but after the game I made a little edit posted it and went crazy because for a school like that 1000 students d three like they they didn't have any of that we didn't have any of that type of coverage. Just wasn't in the budget. Um, so the students loved it. The coaches. Loved it. Coaches were like we want you to do that for every game going forward? Um, so then that gave me like the platform to practice and get better and really like learn the ropes of how to use this camera. So did it the whole rest of the year um wrapped it up. They went and won an e cc championship ball game and I was like wow that was really cool other people on campus started noticing I started doing different other sports lacrosse basketball sorority recruitment videos. You know all that.

07:59.18
smacey
No kidding. Ah.

08:01.76
Josh
Afina um, so then springtime rules around Twenty Twenty um and we go on spring break but we never come back so that kind of like put a little pause on it because it was like now there's nothing to do.

08:02.51
aaronmannes
That's ironing.

08:18.40
Josh
Um, but I'd still like done a couple little paid gigs there that winter right before that nothing crazy I was making like $25 for some of these things. Um, but it was a start So all that time during the Covid lockdown I was like how do I like continue to monetize this or like make it better. Cause like this is what I want to do I don't want to do computer science. Um I Just couldn't see myself doing that So Twenty Twenty I was like I'm gonna form an L lllc to house this under just so it's a little bit more official for like B Two B business to business.

08:49.45
smacey
You know.

08:54.70
Josh
Relationships stuff like that versus just me like as Josh V on the freelancer. Um, so I kind of did the paperwork got all that stuff squared away I built the website all during the lockdowns and.

09:08.59
Josh
Was kind of it for that like I kind of just set it up and then it was starting to get back to normal I worked at a golf course at the time is like my summer job. So I went back to the golf course didn't do too much too many creative things during that. Um, there still was no football season when I went back for my senior year. Actually played it in the spring. So it was like a whole year went by um, but continued to do more more football content the next spring and wanted to start exploring more opportunities for when I graduated and that's when i. Kind of circled back and I was like oh these Nfl guys they're doing like literally what I'm doing just on a professional level and found 2 of the guys here in Pittsburgh that were doing at Mike Spinos and Alex Maory who are now my coworkers and kind of ah, followed along with their journeys and.

09:48.14
smacey
Ah.

10:03.32
Josh
Asked them questions when I could and you know looked to them for advice and then um, graduated started to do more like or more video projects around the community not necessarily sports based but um. Anything from real estate to corporate to a lot of drone stuff because that's really what got me started too and then went back to my high school which would have been fall Twenty Twenty Two I think um. And filmed their football program because I was able to get a deal with like the boosters and everything um about September of that of 2022 ah I got a dm from Kim who's one of my bosses at the Nfl now that they were looking for somebody in Pittsburgh and my work had been had came up. And um, so I went interviewed and got the gig and that was kind of my entry into professional sports. Um, and then it snowballed from there.

11:00.99
aaronmannes
Amazement.

11:06.81
smacey
Wow, That's awesome I have I've been even seeing me type I'm not texting I'm writing notes because so I I appreciate you being so thorough with your with your answers or with your description of your story. Um, so when you.

11:13.38
Josh
Ah, now you get.

11:23.67
smacey
You know you get that Dm in your mind is this somewhat of a surprise to you like oh what a great opportunity or had you already in your mind said you know I want to work for the Nfl like that's my that's my goal for lack of a better term or. Was it just a spontaneous opportunity that arose that you obviously have to say yes to.

11:49.47
Josh
Ah, so it was more detail like how it played out I was've there was a couple other occasions where I saw they were looking for people through just like other Instagram stories and everything and it was always like ah send a dm to this person or send your work to this person. All through Instagram um, so I had done that like the year or two before that when I was like about to graduate and just never heard anything back. Never even got seen to my knowledge or anything. Ah so that was kind of a little discouraging I'd say and then that summer. There was another instance of like hey send your work here. Um, we're hiring for this season. So I sent my stuff in that was like in June or so never heard anything and then out of nowhere. Got the dm in September so it was a surprise because I kind of had written off you know the season was already underway basically.

12:35.40
smacey
Yeah, right.

12:41.58
smacey
Yeah, and we have such a tendency to do that and it's fair to think I haven't heard in a week two weeks two months three months but I think we can forget that because you haven't heard I know maybe it's not necessarily the nicest that people don't get back to you but they're busy. You're not necessarily at priority. But you're still.

12:44.76
Josh
Um.

13:01.16
smacey
Stowed away for later right? Your information is still on file they know your skill level. They know that you have the credibility who knows what's going on on their end right? Maybe it's not the right time. So it's I I So many times that's happened to me as well. Where're like you've written something off and then.

13:03.25
Josh
Yeah.

13:20.46
smacey
Weeks months later, you're like oh okay so I was still I was still a person of importance right.

13:23.15
Josh
That.

13:29.47
Josh
Yeah, exactly it's easy to give up on it and just be like oh like I'm never going to get. They're never going to see this or whatever and that's kind of what I did at that point as I was like ah it's whatever you know I haven't heard anything the last two years before this. So why would I hear it now and.

13:38.31
smacey
Right? right.

13:46.37
Josh
So It was surprising and it was also like I got to take this opportunity because I knew that that I knew that I wanted to do that in some capacity just because I'd watched other lccs and like what they do and I liked that it was like a part-time. Nature where it wasn't a full commitment where I could still do my own stuff too.

14:05.60
smacey
Right? right? and we'll get into what you do there in Nfl live but I have ah some points I want to get through Aaron do you want a chance to jump in before I rifle off all my questions.

14:14.88
aaronmannes
Yeah, ah well I think just a small point is like sometimes you get put on the back burner and it's important not to get down on yourself and quit or like pull the plug like oh they didn't like me I'm not good enough I'll never make it I think a lot of people can go that direction and I think it's important to kind of be like ah. And just keep going and like keep trying other things and I mean you email them or reached out twice in a row with your work. You know there's no shame and like hey maybe that timing wasn't right? Maybe I've improved in the last year I keep trying and keep doing other things and you just never know what's going to happen. Um, that's the attitude that that tends to win. Whether it was them coming back weeks later or because they said no you found this other venture and were successful in that. So just keep going I think is important keep trying to get better learn from it.

14:59.37
smacey
Yeah, it's a good point not waiting around right? not waiting around for an answer. Yeah so yeah, for sure so early in your description of your.

15:09.20
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, exactly.

15:09.39
Josh
Love that patience and persistence.

15:18.22
smacey
Background You used the phrase doubling down you'd posted your golf course reel I think initially your drone reel or demo reel and you said it got really good response and you said I want to double down on that not necessarily in this case exactly. But. With what you've learned and moving forward What does doubling down mean for you in a more nuanced sense.

15:46.32
Josh
I'd say doubling down for me is putting all your eggs in 1 basket almost because that's kind of what it was there. Um up till then it was like a hobby if you will I was like ah like I don't think I could really make this a career. You know I'm just doing this for fun and that was like the first glimpse of there might be something here. There's a lot of attention on this stuff right now and I enjoy doing it. It doesn't feel like working. Um, so for me when I double down on something. It's putting a lot more of my focus on it a lot more of my effort.

16:09.73
smacey
And.

16:24.00
Josh
And kind of like burning the boats if you will and there's no more. There's no going back. You know once I commit I commit.

16:29.75
smacey
Right? And that was before you were you know a professional now that you are professional with a media company and you're working for Nfl live. Do you still would that term still fit. Are there areas that you have success in and I think a good key word here is exploit. Something is working well for us. We want to continue to exploit that and improve upon it and when things aren't working well we explore and explore and explore and we keep exploring until we find what works and then we exploit exploit exploit does that kind of ring true to to how you work now or do you still to use your term double down in certain areas. Um. Now that you're at a lot different spot than you were when you first posted that that video.

17:14.67
Josh
Yeah, absolutely ah, getting more into like the business side whenever I started it to have more time to do that after I graduated and everything initially real estate was like a really appealing part because it was tied into the drones. Real Heavy. You didn't have to deal with. People necessarily all the time you know you're just you in the building and you just had to go through and and do stuff so that was like I saw that I was like oh this is it like I'm gonna exploit this like you said and um, got into doing that and had more clients with that and realized that I hated it.

17:33.14
smacey
Right.

17:51.30
Josh
And also realize I just didn't like the the it just seemed to attract a lot of people I don't know if it was the real estate industry or not that I just wasn't a fan of being around I guess and um, the work just kind of became like very repetitive and not really creative anymore. Um.

18:07.43
smacey
Right.

18:11.20
Josh
So that was a situation where I kind of doubled down on it and really was pushing to make that a big segment of my business and then kind of backfired and I was like I don't want to do this I got to retreat and go explore different areas.

18:21.47
smacey
Right? right? I think another thing that's so important too is and this is maybe oversimplistic. But I think it's important to state is that it's important to make content we like and that other people like. If we care about getting business getting quote likes follows you said early on when you were doing your you made a warmup highlight reel of the football team at your school and I'm sure you were psyched on it Otherwise you wouldn't shared it but the the school also liked it.

18:54.93
Josh
Um.

18:59.46
smacey
So when you have the the audience liking it. You know your specific audience like it and you love it. I think it's a good recipe for motivation to continue getting better and to keep exploiting to use that term again. That that genre that area. What do you think about that.

19:22.83
Josh
Yeah, yeah I think having um number one. Obviously you have to enjoy it like I said you can't I don't think in the creative world. You can be successful if you don't enjoy what you're making because it's not creative anymore. It's just you're just checking the box to get it done. Um, that's a huge part of it.

19:36.83
smacey
Great.

19:42.69
Josh
And when you have the added bonus of like what people what you're doing is being recognized and you're getting support from your own community or even just a paid client is giving you a lot of positive feedback. Um, that's all I mean that's a recipe for success because now you've got a product that you love doing.

19:52.33
smacey
You can.

20:01.55
Josh
Other people love it and you can really you know exploit that I know we keep using it. But um, a good term for it. You know.

20:04.66
smacey
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah I mean it's also it's there might not be anything worse in the photography world than making content. You hate that other people love Maybe that's just a personal thing.

20:20.42
Josh
Yeah, yeah.

20:21.64
smacey
Because we're all artists at heart right? Like we're creating something out of nothing right? And yeah, yeah, being selfish.

20:26.70
Josh
Here.

20:28.28
aaronmannes
Yeah, that's the yeah, that's the Rick Rubin the audience comes last if you're a true artist right? like and he he brought up the um I love Rick Rubin just as his voice. The the sound of his voice is so soothing but he brought up the boot.

20:32.12
Josh
Yeah I like that.

20:40.80
smacey
Um, let people know who Rick Rubin is if they have no idea.

20:44.47
aaronmannes
Um, Rick rubins a producer He's just been ah part of so many iconic records and like pushing the envelope with a lot of ideas you know, bringing rap music and rock and roll music together back in the I think it was the 80 s um just a lot of like different interesting things to try to create the most. I don't know artistic and true pieces. Um, but he talks about the creative process a lot He's a couple books that have come out recently. He's been on a few podcasts. Um, just a good mind. He's like a little Buddha I think but he talks about the audience being last and he talks about the example, he gives her like all these blockbuster movies.

21:05.57
smacey
Bright.

21:22.70
aaronmannes
Ah, just get like spit out and churned out where it's like this is what the audience wants. This is what they like and the movies are never they might be entertaining but they're never like that deep deep like someone that makes a movie for years and like it's their. It's their baby and if it does well it does well but that's not the point of it.

21:33.60
smacey
Right.

21:42.42
aaronmannes
Point is to like make something for them. You know and I think that's true with photography with even the little bit of content. You're making a real It's got to like we talked about it before Seth like just completely copying something that went trendy because you want it to go trendy too or viral to then like. Doesn't feel as great if it goes viral. It's like oh well I just copy the thing and you're not copying things you need to copy more things. No.

22:01.97
smacey
I wouldn't know I haven't gone viral. So.

22:05.84
Josh
I had.

22:07.84
smacey
Yeah I mean I think it's yeah I think you come first right? but the audience still is important depending on what you're trying to do like are you trying to grow are you trying to get business. Are you trying to you know those movies you referenced.

22:17.10
aaronmannes
Um.

22:20.46
aaronmannes
Depend on what you're trying to do right.

22:27.64
smacey
Just Hollywood Churn out. They probably you know break records all the time because there's a formula right? There's a formula. Um I think the magic spot is is it being your baby to use your term right? It's your art. It's for you and it's well received. We can figure out how to do that consistently.

22:31.93
aaronmannes
Yeah, yeah, right right.

22:47.29
smacey
Think we're satisfied with ourselves as artists and we also open up a lot of doors for ourselves in terms of getting hired or or growth etc. Um.

22:56.58
Josh
yeah yeah I think you could argue social media now though promotes to you make for the audience versus yourself though. Unfortunately at least in like a platform like Instagram and tick talk. It's very heavily like you got to play it into the algorithm.

23:04.74
smacey
Um, yeah.

23:11.30
smacey
Do you feel that way. Do you feel boxed in. Oh let's get into that. Yeah.

23:14.29
Josh
Which isn't good. Oh yeah, sometimes because I I mean just taking it back to last year when I started doing the Nfl stuff I was starting to post similar videos like what I did in college which were more like hype style longer edits like a men so long.

23:25.41
smacey
I.

23:33.15
Josh
And they do all right with like my core followers but like they weren't doing nearly as good as they were it wasminster I'm like I think we lost Seth ah, he's back? Um, but they weren't doing nearly like what I expected and um.

23:40.40
aaronmannes
Yes I bounced he's right back? perfect.

23:51.16
Josh
So that was discouraging I was like what like I got all these pro players in it now and like now people just don't interact with it or whatever. Um, fast forward to this past year you know I've I've made a lot shorter clips kind of evolved to like the short form. Um. Type of algorithm and they've been a lot more successful. So I enjoy making those clips. Um because they still are cool to you know, edit and play with the colors and get the sounds synced up if there's something cool happening ah happening in the clip. But um, it's not quite.

24:28.20
Josh
Probably what I actually want to do sometimes so but it's what I do for for the gram.

24:34.26
aaronmannes
For the gram. Do it for the gram now it's true. It's ah it's a different. It's a different format right? like it's ah just a different First of all, it's vertical like like that that takes ah that takes a minute and a while to get back to things.

24:42.72
Josh
Yeah, yeah, that's a downside too.

24:51.74
aaronmannes
Um, so we're we're already just being you know, steered in a direction based on the format of of Instagram which is so different than any filmmaker has ever tried to do ever. You know.

25:09.78
aaronmannes
I'm scared of the day where the first movie comes out with a vertical Tv or the first vertical Tv is put on the wall that'll be dangerous and it's going to happen at some point there will be an option to rotate your tv I guarantee it sooner than later.

25:12.20
smacey
Are.

25:13.67
Josh
Yeah, that'll be that'll be dangerous.

25:27.30
aaronmannes
Ah, maybe it already exists I don't know. Ah, but yeah, we're already. We're already stuck in that sort of it has to be a 4 by 5 photo to have the best real estate and you're cropping every photo even even if it doesn't fit There's this one photo I have ah where it does not call for a 4 by 5 vertical photo. And I don't even know where the original is at this point because it's a long time ago, but it it bugs me so much because I forced it and it it. It. It was a landscape like it needed to be a landscape photo and I printed it out even in the 4 by 5 like this's all just being steered by the method.

26:06.32
Josh
There.

26:06.54
aaronmannes
Of Instagram or whatever the that platform you're using is so it it is interesting but it's also a challenge I don't know about you but like I enjoy like how can I make an intriguing video in 9 seconds with like a hook a theme and like ah ending like how can I get.

26:18.10
smacey
Oh.

26:26.33
aaronmannes
Ah, point across in 9 seconds that's kind of a challenge too. So I mean there's there's fun ways to look at it I guess.

26:33.94
smacey
Yeah I mean and how can you? There's so many different variables within that 9 seconds right how can I you know? what's my hook. How do I retain attention. How do I make people.

26:41.49
aaronmannes
Yeah.

26:51.83
smacey
Maintain focus all the way to the end. You know sometimes videos don't call for that right? I mean I see what you're saying the challenge is fun. The challenge you know can be fun. Maybe it's more fun to others to certain individuals right.

27:04.88
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

27:10.77
Josh
Yeah, yeah.

27:11.00
smacey
I'm trying to find a way to make that fun because to me that's not fun. But I've done a lot of other things in my life that weren't fun and I just tried to figure out a way to how to do them and now they are Fun. So I've figured myself if I really want to care about social media I mean there's there's a there's a way to make it. Satisfying or to enjoy being brutal at it.

27:34.27
Josh
Factor.

27:35.25
aaronmannes
I think too and I was talking to a few Youtube creators I think the long form is is making a comeback to in in like the Youtube space. So there there is a mix I think of like I don't ought to say his last name but Martin Deward I want to say but I could be wrong. He is like hour long.

27:44.78
smacey
Right.

27:55.25
aaronmannes
Videos that are so slow but amazingly shot and he's just building his cabin with his bare hands. There's hardly any talking. It's just cinematic and like the most peaceful thing ever I Love watching those.

28:04.90
smacey
It seems like I can go to sleep to that sounds like Insomnia medication.

28:08.62
Josh
I might have seen I might have seen either him or something like that.

28:14.65
aaronmannes
But it's like it's done so well and you're like oh this like it still works. It's still what we enjoy to see and he has tons and tons of followers and and engagement and what have you but there's nothing quick 9 seconds funny like ah here's someone that got hit in the balls like.

28:29.48
smacey
Right.

28:30.34
Josh
Fifth.

28:31.93
aaronmannes
Okay, like how many times can we see that go millions viral while we're putting in so much work to have like a cinematic 14 seconds and you're like it just flops and you're like oh well. Okay, wrong audience I suppose you know, um, but there there is a there is a place for everything and.

28:43.49
smacey
Yeah.

28:50.64
aaronmannes
And if it is your own art and like that's what you really want to do you can you can put it on Youtube you can I don't know what the length is like a limit but you can put on some long art. We put our our podcast on that you can put us some long videos on Youtube if you want to it'll be 4 hours probably so.

29:03.64
smacey
Um, right? Well since we're talking about content. Ah I hope I'm right in assuming you're somewhat able to talk about this Josh you did work with it's Peter's pasta right.

29:16.52
Josh
Yeah, yeah.

29:18.42
smacey
Ah, you guys did a ah collaboration with Mr Beast right and you were videoing the thing for Peter or is that correct. So what can you kind of tell us about that. Maybe some things you learned about videography about you know? Yeah, as far as I understand you guys saw some.

29:26.61
Josh
That's correct yet.

29:37.87
smacey
Pretty cool creative studios. Um, you're in that environment that was content twenty four seven daily what are some things you you picked up um, either from the Mr Beast team your own team. Just some things you observed um and maybe run us through.

29:40.19
Josh
Um, yeah.

29:55.70
smacey
What you're allowed to talk about I don't know what you are and are not allowed to you know speak about um about that project but kind of how that came to be as well.

29:58.41
Josh
I met.

30:06.92
Josh
Yeah, yeah, so that was ah my first experience with like you said content twenty four seven like a content machine. Ah basically like a youtuber that's fully scaled like everything that there's possible. A scale.

30:13.37
smacey
Right.

30:19.26
smacey
Um, he's the biggest creator in the world right? Mr Beast he is the most subscribers of anybody on Youtube Mr. Beast correct insane.

30:24.50
Josh
What's that yeah I think he's at like 200000000 or something now which is it's up there. There might be like 1 channel in India or something that like reposts videos and might be up there but he's he's like the number 1 pretty much. Um.

30:31.26
aaronmannes
Well.

30:36.29
smacey
Right? We're talking like warehouses for studios right.

30:44.21
Josh
Yeah, so I mean the the one we were in a warehouse that was like called like studio b or something and it was like their short form warehouse. Um, and it was pretty big I don't know the exact specs but it was very sizable. You could fit multiple trucks inside if you wanted to so there was like a whole. Warehouse space what they they had sets different sets built on for short form videos. Um, and then there was like actual office space attached to it and then it was sitting on like this huge property that they use for outside shoots and everything. Um. So that alone was pretty sweet and then there was a second studio that we didn't get to see the inside of but I mean massive like Amazon warehouse size. It's actually they told us will be the biggest sound stage on the East Coast um I believe starting this year because they just didn't expansion but um.

31:26.58
aaronmannes
Boy.

31:29.29
smacey
Wow.

31:37.30
Josh
Really big and that's where he shoots his long form videos at ah and they were shooting a video while we were there so we weren't able to see the inside just because they had you know, confidential and everything but um, so yeah, the the whole experience from top to bottom was crazy just because the scale of it. Um, having just the. Ah, site dedicated just for short form videos was crazy because I mean there was probably 8 to 10 people that worked there full time. Their jobs were just to plan and create logistics behind his tiktoks and Instagram reels and Youtube shorts and that was it. Um, you know. The sets they had built where you go in and you open the refrigerator and it's just hundred dollar bills stacked inside. Um they had the feastables chocolate bars everywhere. Um, so that was the big that was a big takeaway was just this the sheer scale of like an operation like Mr Beast um

32:20.30
aaronmannes
Who.

32:34.86
Josh
Obviously how it kind of came to fruition so Ryan Peters Pasta he's based here in Pittsburgh and he started a series last spring or last January so a little over a year ago where he was like I'm gonna create pasta from. And egg. But the eggs are gonna double every time so he started day one with 1 egg yolk day 2 double double doubled by April which is when I first did my first video with him. Ah he was at 4000 eggs. Um, which was for like day eleven or day 12 or something like that. So. These were all for these were all short form videos. He was making it was going on Tiktok Youtube shorts Instagram reels. So once he got to like the 4000 number it was clear that he needed to do like a but behind the scenes vlog style thing of this because it was the operation was becoming like a multi-day thing.

33:23.52
smacey
Right.

33:31.58
Josh
Um, so that's where I came in and filmed the whole process for for 4000 eggs um so I went and filmed that. Yeah oh dude I got coupons for free eggs for days for the whole summer gave my all my friends and family and everything but um.

33:36.30
smacey
Um.

33:38.90
aaronmannes
That that was your payment 4000 eggs

33:46.28
smacey
Nice.

33:51.14
Josh
So we did that video in April and around that time when we were filming that video we were obviously talking about okay well now it doubles to 8000? Um, and that's when he was like yeah like I've been talking to the Mr. Beast team and like they want to collaborate I think and we were like what like. You know how big that would be um so I was you know I was like I'm on board like let's do it whenever you want to do it if he hits you up like I'm down so the 4000 egg video is done. We post that like two months goes by. It's June and he gives me a call and he's like hey like. But could you come down next week to North Carolina we're gonna do the video so that's when the planning process started. It worked out that I was at a wedding in Arkansas for my cousin the weekend that that we were supposed to start filming there so it worked he found somebody else to film those first two days um and then I flew in like on Sunday night to like cover the rest and we were there till Friday I think anyway so I pull up and I walk in and I meet Ian is like the first person I meet and I thought he worked yeah Ian Jones

34:52.34
smacey
Wow.

35:02.50
smacey
Ian Jones yep

35:05.67
Josh
I thought he worked for it for Mr Beast because he was giving me a tour of the whole factory and he's shown me the drawers the drawers in the kitchen. He's like yeah you can just help yourself. You want a snack or anything I'm like oh sweet like so I thought he actually worked for them and.

35:10.37
aaronmannes
Um, that's Ian.

35:15.30
smacey
Ah, of dead.

35:22.35
Josh
Then I put it together that he was Ian and he was the photographer and it made sense. But um, so yeah, then we spent what like the next 3 or 4 days grinding out the rest of that video um and having some fun in the process I mean there were long days and wake up and we were there till.

35:23.73
smacey
That's amazing.

35:36.58
smacey
Yeah.

35:41.78
Josh
Ten or eleven o'clock at night most nights and and then we'd go enjoy ourselves at the hotel bar after that. But um, it was a good time and I learned a lot about how what's possible with social media. Um.

35:44.89
smacey
That.

35:57.13
Josh
And also just like some of the logistics of like organizing something like that and it was It was a cool experience. It was crazy.

36:04.44
smacey
Um, right? So what were your biggest takeaways in terms of learning I mean was it was it fun to live breathe eat sleep content all day.

36:15.80
Josh
I don't know I would say just answer that question I don't know if I'd want to eat live breathe content twenty four seven like that because it's it's at a point where for for him where it's just that's all he does and he almost um it seemed as if he was just kind of told where to go. And like he had his whole team that was planning everything out and he was just kind of like the prop almost at this point. Um, which is that's what allowed him to scale to this point. So not there's anything wrong with that. But I wouldn't want to do that? Um, so I'd say my biggest takeaway is.

36:35.95
smacey
Um, right.

36:43.60
smacey
Um, yeah.

36:50.21
Josh
Don't sleep on social media because the amount you can scale and the amount of revenue that can be involved and um, understanding what it means to have videos, especially long form videos that get 1 to 10000000 views or more. Um. Perfect example, being like the super bowl last night North of 200000000 viewers and how much those ads cost and then how much that's worth for a Youtube if you have a brand that's looking to make a deal with like a youtuber that consistently gets views and um.

37:21.96
smacey
Bright.

37:25.41
Josh
That brand has like a lot of influence with their audience type stuff. So I'd say that was the number 1 thing I learned um two we learned the value of teamwork and being able to like sort through problems and disagreements and everything just because a lot of moving pieces with that project and. It didn't go entirely smoothly at all times but we made it work in the end. Um, so I'd say those are the 2 biggest things and number 3 I mean it just helped me learn a lot of I hadn't done like.

37:58.72
Josh
Let me see how i' describe this for Youtube you have to kind of edit for retention almost where it's very like specific editing kind of copying in some ways in terms of like there's certain people that do it really? Well and so people try to mimic it so I had to there was a lot of pressure on that video because it was like. Mr. Beast is the 10000 eggs it needed to do well. So I really had to try to figure out how to put it together even though I didn't have a ton of experience doing like viral Youtube videos at that point. Um, so I learned a lot through that.

38:28.30
smacey
Bright.

38:35.26
smacey
Awesome man.

38:35.32
Josh
And the video did end up getting a million views so it worked out but it worked out and end. But I remember the first like week or so it only had like or the first day or 2 It only got like 20000 views I was like oh shit like but we pulled it out.

38:36.30
aaronmannes
Awesome.

38:45.31
aaronmannes
Is trying That's amazing.

38:49.77
smacey
Yeah, back to that same theme of not writing things off too soon. Ah, speaking about retention. You said you had to edit for retention I think retention is an important thing even in the short form content world. It's crazy I'm even saying this but you got a 10 second video you want people to make it past 5 seconds right if you

38:52.89
Josh
More dark.

39:07.31
aaronmannes
5 5 is pretty good I think.

39:07.72
smacey
You care about that kind of stuff right? Um, you mentioned there's some creators who do it really? well. Um, if you wouldn't mind maybe sharing a couple if if you know their their usernames um and what do you think helps retain attention in any kind of video. Cuts, pacing, etc.

39:32.20
Josh
Um, so I'd say if you're talk to me back over the summer what I would say played for retention. It was like quick cuts having sound effects the memes like very like the short form attention span stuff that's crept in the long form videos. Now I think it's going more the direction of a little bit of that stuff. But it's more of the story. Um, if you're not telling a story with the long form videos. It just doesn't seem to get picked up and people aren't going to be engaged. Um, so I'd say storytelling is probably number one now.

39:51.22
smacey
And.

40:04.96
Josh
Long as you have a good story people will overlook the fact of like bad audio or bad video quality. Even um, so it's not even necessarily you have to like nail the video quality nail the audio the lighting and all that stuff like you have to have a really good story and so that's something I'm.

40:07.91
smacey
Right? right.

40:22.97
Josh
Planning to continue to work on this year and get better at and um, be able to edit better with that situation. You look at like youtubers obviously. Mr Beast is probably the number one in terms of retention and he has a very distinct way that he edit its videos. Ah his team edit its videos. Um. They're more for like the short form mind of lots of things happening lots of stimulation. They tell a story. There's cuts all over the place camera angles all over the place things popping up on the screen sound effects. Um, plus they're doing crazy stuff on the video.

40:56.38
smacey
Right.

40:59.42
Josh
But you look at like a youtuber like mkeymkbhd who does you know tech reviews and stuff like that and his videos are not flashy at all in terms of like quick cuts and stuff like that they look really good. They sound really good and he also is really entertaining with the way he tells a story. Um. So I'd say that's a the like mkbhd that's kind of like the style of Youtuber that I watch more often. Um, but I've started to kind of branch out and watch others. Another example, there's another Pittsburgh youtuber named John Millaki who does woodworking. Um. And he'll build these crazy tables with ah the epoxy fillings in them and water they have like look like they have waterfalls and stuff going through him and you know his videos can be thirty forty minutes long and you'll get sucked into him like it's ah a tv show. Um and they kind of have a good mix of that.

41:55.34
smacey
Um.

41:58.11
Josh
That high energy editing but also they tell a story of watching this build from start to finish. Um, even up to the point where they deliver it to the Customer's house or whatever.

42:01.63
smacey
Yeah.

42:07.86
smacey
It just goes to show that go go ahead earn. Yeah.

42:10.95
aaronmannes
Now a guy like that Duke I'm sorry Seth I have a follow up March to the woodworking. Um I'm always amazed I mentioned Martin again I don't know his last name but he's he's filming I guess I don't know this but it has the feel of he's setting up a tripod. He's filming. Kind of like man versus wild or like those shows would always fascinate me like you're going to survive in the wild. But you're also setting up the tripod so you can go walk by it like you're hiking. You know like it's so much extra work when you're already doing something so like someone that's woodworking. Um. Do you feel like there's a whole crew there or is it all the artistic sort of direction of the the person I I mean I don't know his story so I'm just curious about that in terms of like someone else is telling the art. You know.

42:55.14
Josh
Yeah, so I mean his his ah story. He started out kind of with the method of set up a tripod and do it myself or do it himself. Um, and that's what he did for like the first four or five years and that led to him. Um. First of all, he's in the unique position to where he has an actual business with it where he he's selling these to customers and bigger clients because he's making conference tables and stuff like that so he has um the actual business and he could kind of just like vlog it as well. Um. But then the Youtube side started to take off so now he has a full time um videographer and like two social media people and an editor that he uses so he doesn't necessarily do all the filming now he will from time to time. Um, so that helps big time and ah, ah.

43:47.45
aaronmannes
Um, me.

43:48.47
Josh
And occupation like that so he can just focus on you know building the products and somebody else worries about the creative side. Um, but you can see success with youtubers who are a 1 ne-man band and they just set up a tripod.

44:01.15
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, if if yeah, it's um, it's amazing like it's amazing. The motor some people have and it's just like a cleared.

44:02.19
Josh
You know, walk up the trail set the Tripod up walk back down then walk up to get the shot. You know you have to do it She how to do but it works.

44:18.60
aaronmannes
Differentiator like between someone that's like oh I have a good word woodworking business and that's it versus the person that's like I have this and I'm going to also do all this the secondary complete business of of. Putting it onto screen like making a story editing all 3 of us here have done video editing. It's not like an easy chore. You know, especially if you're starting off and you said 4 to 5 years of doing the woodworking building that business and now have to go edit all the stuff that I just did. And like put it all together like that. That's an incredible motor that I don't think many have and ah I'm just I'm not surprised anymore when people make it and you hear their backstory. You're like oh like you have you have this drive that many don't you know.

45:11.48
Josh
Yeah I think going back to the takeaways that kind of spurred my my third takeaway was that the people that are successful on the Youtube endeavor and even just the social media side they have to have that drive like you said, um because it's a twenty four seven operation you're always kind of clocked in and thinking of ideas creating filming editing strategizing so you really can't cut corners and that's what I've learned in the last year or 2 special on the Youtube side is you have to put some some real planning into it. Um. You have to have a lot of patience a lot of confidence and you can't get discouraged either.

45:49.81
smacey
Now do you think quality or quantity is more important. So in other words would you rather spend four months working on in your opinion this is going to be the greatest video I've ever made.

45:51.17
aaronmannes
Yeah.

46:09.33
smacey
Right? It's perfect in every way or would you rather get 10 videos that are pretty good out in that same time. So personal question this is opinion.

46:18.76
Josh
Um, that's a tough one I'd say yeah I think quality over quantity I think you get to the point where you can put out as many quality videos as you can is probably. The best thing I would say but you can't cut corners and just put them out to put them out. Um because you out there has to be this story there like I said if you have really good video quality and very good audio quality and the lighting's nailed and the focus is nailed and everything like that stuff matters as well. Not as much but still if it if you're creative like that stuff matters to you as well and a lot of the audience members who might be watching um to I'd say I'm quality over quantity. But there's a time and a place for it.

47:04.10
smacey
Yeah I mean and then I guess to follow up. Do you feel that quantity if someone favors quantity right? Puts more of an importance on quantity and they're just blasting out videos. Maybe a lot of them are Mediocre. Do you think that's harmful to their. Want to say personal brand but to how their audience receives them in the future. Do you think people just whatever people only count your wins like oh that was great and kind of tend to forget your your blunders.

47:38.80
Josh
Yeah I think um I think it does shape your audience it attracts a different audience member if you're putting out quality videos versus if you're putting out just quality or quantity. Um, because what I found is that creators that are very short form focused.

47:40.92
smacey
Okay.

47:53.62
aaronmannes
Um.

47:56.70
Josh
It doesn't usually convert well to long form videos. No matter what the quality is just because they've attracted an audience that wants action within 2 or 3 seconds they're so used to watching a 7 or eight second video then scrolling to the next instant gratification versus.

48:12.18
smacey
Ah, okay.

48:14.54
Josh
And audience if you're putting out 1 or 2 videos a month it's watching a full 30 or 40 minute video is a lot different and it could be different age can be different interests different backgrounds in their career. Um, so I'd say they're they're definitely different.

48:29.80
smacey
Do you feel? There's more value to the latter having an audience member who who will stick around for that 40 minute video even if they're they're less in numbers than the swipe swipe swipe can be nine second video crew.

48:36.20
Josh
Um.

48:46.44
Josh
I'd say they're more valuable valuable. Yeah because for just looking at from the monetary side of if I was a brand and I wanted to sponsor somebody I'd want their audience to be more tentative and. To care more. Usually if they're watching a video longer. They're going to care more and they're more likely to buy into whatever product I'm advertising or just pay attention to if you're you're a creator and you launch a store or something um to sell a product stuff like that. They're more likely to participate than if you're just scrolling through you really don't matter as much to them because they can scroll one down and there's somebody else. That's just as important.

49:21.87
smacey
I Guess yeah I guess that speaks to the idea of the more time someone or your audience has invested in you I think the more obviously the more they care I think that's a simple.

49:24.78
aaronmannes
Um.

49:33.85
Josh
Yeah, yeah.

49:40.27
smacey
People might be saying well duh. But maybe you know it's sometimes valuable to say the simplest concepts out loud I'm a believer in that. But so you know I guess this speaks to going back to the word retention. It's.

49:41.64
Josh
For the victims.

49:41.69
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

49:55.80
smacey
That word is important beyond social media. Even if you're listening and you don't care about social media at at all. But you want to make money commercially with your camera I mean retention matters if you're creating an ad retention matters if you're creating you know something for a brand. Um, so. You know as somebody who does a lot of this with Orchard eight your media company. What do you think most people who want to be creators for companies. What do they get wrong about the business side of of being that kind of creator. Um. And I'm not saying you know all the answers but just in your opinion. Maybe some things that you got wrong. Even.

50:37.22
Josh
Yeah, I'd say one of 1 of the things I definitely got wrong going into it was um, that businesses will like the same style and like like the same idea video that I'm trying to make um because there's a lot that already have an idea of what they want. And their mind. Um, so they may not like what your ideas they may not like what the final result is and you can't get angry about it necessarily um because they have different interests and it also ties into what is their audit you have to understand what their audience who their audience is. What they want to see why are they buying their product or using their service. Um, what age is their audience. You know what stage of life are they in There's a lot that a lot more pertains to it than just going in and making a flashy video or just making a video and calling it a day. There's got to be a lot of strategy behind it and when I first started out. It was just kind of like well I'm getting paid to make videos now and you look over that and you may not have delivered as good of a quality video as you could have or the brand may not be as happy as they.

51:37.80
smacey
Right.

51:48.14
smacey
Right? Or you wrongfully assume they're hiring me because they want my style my creative vision my ideas I think that's an easy mistake to make whereas it's more likely they're hiring hopefully on your website or whatever you're using as you're.

51:49.60
Josh
You want them to be.

51:55.49
Josh
Yes.

52:06.48
smacey
Portfolio you've shown that you have the ability to be diverse right? Um, so on that topic How are you wedging the door open with prospects.

52:13.26
Josh
Um.

52:24.14
Josh
Um, so a lot of how it worked for me was it started out with like word of mouth I mean that's really how it is in business Exactly yeah, you do those.

52:31.15
smacey
It's a best form of marketing my opinion when you somebody personally endorses you you know you you can't beat that I don't care what anyone says you can't.

52:34.49
aaronmannes
Are.

52:39.72
Josh
You do those first couple projects and then usually a word of mouth lead is just it's really strong because if they're their bud you know using you and they recommend you. They're probably going to be willing to at least learn more about what you offer. Um.

52:44.17
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

52:44.36
smacey
Um, right.

52:50.19
smacey
Me.

52:54.79
Josh
So that was kind of how I so it started but then you get into the cycle of like the feast and famine cycle where it's like you'll be real busy for you know for a month or 2 and then since you're so busy. You don't organize anything else for like the next two or three months so then you get in there and there's no work. It dried up. And you're like oh man like what's going on. Um, so that's where some of the dming and cold outreach and um, the networking side comes in and the patient side. Um, where.

53:25.68
smacey
Right? right.

53:31.19
Josh
I've kind of started to try to develop a stat strategy to remember when I am busy to look ahead for those next three or four months to plan things out and reach out um send cold emails and then during the slow months to not panic and just ah, you know, remember that.

53:46.97
smacey
Heymen to that? yeah.

53:49.50
Josh
Business will come. You know you just have to put in the work and reach out and even another thing I try to remember myself or remind myself too is when cold de cold dming or cold emailing. Um, even if you get a know or they don't respond or anything. Um. Similar to how we talked about earlier like don't count yourself out sometimes just because that you emailed them you know and then a year later they're like oh we need a video person now. Um I've had several instances where people follow up a year or so later or six months later and it then turns into something so. You can't write it off right away. Um, but you do have to put yourself out there and for me is like an introverted personality especially going into it. It was not something I wanted to do and still don't love to do but I have to do it to to survive.

54:41.60
smacey
Right? What's with you introverted people. Aaron's an introvert too and you guys are on podcasts. What's the deal with that tell us about the podcast you started Mvp Podcast correct um why

54:44.76
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, that'll make you do it.

54:51.95
Josh
Ah I don't know I would have never imagined I'd be doing this.

54:53.69
aaronmannes
Um, it says.

54:58.97
Josh
Yep So um towards I was already out of school but to my buddies that I met in an entrepreneurship class in school. We're just one day where like we should do something together. We're all like minded and um.

54:59.56
smacey
Um, just a song I'm going to say why did you start one? What's the goal.

55:16.81
Josh
Hungry and ah so we're like let's do podcasts and this was spring 21 um so and it seemed that was also it seemed like a very simple thing to start in terms of we could start with just like our iphone microphone and set it on a table and just start. Having a conversation like we normally would but we just post it after um so we put our last names together mall and v on Poppa and came up with mvmvppodcast. Um, so it worked out. Um, so we did that and we interviewed. Ah.

55:43.61
smacey
Well, that was easy for you guys.

55:46.34
aaronmannes
Yeah, you.

55:55.40
Josh
Our professor for our entrepreneurship class where we all kind of like came together. We interviewed him for like our second episode and picked his brain about his experience and everything and our idea was to bring on mvps of their industry. People that we thought were doing really cool things. Successful um, that had a lot of insight into what it took to get there so it was very it was business focused athlete focused um, just people that are just crushing it. You know and.

56:25.78
smacey
Um, right.

56:26.68
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

56:28.25
Josh
So usually we try to have on a guest or 2 targeting mainly around the Pittsburgh area occasionally people that still have ties back to here but they may have moved on to other portions of the country. We bring them on and much like you guys. We. We just kind of go through their story and. Ask questions and talk about the current events.

56:48.50
smacey
Right on man right on? Well um, we're gonna wrap up soon. But I'd be remiss if we didn't talk a little bit more or close out with Nfl live. Um, you know that's most of what your social presence is right? your personal page. Um, you know I got caught in the the.

56:50.38
aaronmannes
Very cool.

56:59.70
Josh
Um, oh yeah, um.

57:00.58
aaronmannes
Where.

57:06.78
smacey
Death scroll watching. Ah you know one 20 frame per second video after 1 20 frame per second video not saying. That's all you do, but that's just with sports when you see like a touchdown or something in in that slow mo it's just kind of you can obsess over it anyways, you make great stuff. Ah, hence why we're here. Ah.

57:11.81
Josh
Okay.

57:18.45
aaronmannes
Another.

57:21.28
Josh
Um, yeah, thank you.

57:25.28
smacey
So you said you you had 3 I think it was you said you had 3 buddies who were working there and you were kind of in their ear and that helped you get to where you were or get to Nfl live among as well as your you know your skill set. So What do you really? What do you do there? What are what's your what are your tasks. What are you paid to do? Um, what do you like the most about it and to give you even more questions. What are some of the challenges.

57:56.20
Josh
I love it. I love it. Um, yeah, so I'm part of the Nfl live content correspondent team and basically we're in armor of the Nfl Social team um the team was brought together in like 2018 or so. To bring fans as close as possible to the action that was when they're really, that's when reals and tiktoks and snapchat snapchat's actually what they started on really started to become big with their stories and all that stuff. Um, so the Tv broadcast really wasn't cutting it for that. And so they saw an opportunity to have um people down there with their cameras their dslrs and everything and we would and they would send in the content back to the league and then they could distribute it to wherever so that's what our goal is today. Still there's 3 of us in every um Nfl City and we help the home and the away teams capture content all of the content goes back to the league as well and then any major brand partners to um, such as like a Nike or something like that so day-to-day we kind of we get between the lines access on the field pregame and post game and then.

58:59.54
aaronmannes
Vehicle.

59:00.26
smacey
That's osland. Yeah.

59:09.20
Josh
Um, they're in the game. Obviously we down there and our job is to basically get as close as we can to the players without interfering and get cool content that the fans would like social first content and one of the things that was unique to this year is they came out and they said they want us to prioritize Iphone content. Um, that was their number one and that was that made a lot of people upset, initially. But I think we all learned to like it at least most of us. Um, as the year went on. Um.

59:29.50
smacey
Wow No kidding.

59:45.57
Josh
Yeah I mean there's plenty of games now where I'm just out there with this and shooting and you get a lot of weird books.

59:48.76
aaronmannes
Really.

59:49.48
smacey
Um, it's amazing I mean it's relatable right? It's relatable like people most people have an iphone or an Android in their pocket like I've yeah I've known some brands where they want iphone photos like no filters no editing none of that done. You know.

59:58.87
Josh
Um, yeah I mean so there.

01:00:05.59
Josh
Yeah, the the whole reason behind it was um, they track everything from each season just to see how it performs and the iphone content that we did last year um, outperformed everything else by like 100% or something crazy.

01:00:18.15
smacey
So sell your cameras to everyone. You don't need them. Yeah.

01:00:20.99
aaronmannes
Um, and and.

01:00:21.33
Josh
Herb like 25% or something. No so it started off like real hard is like all right phones only the first couple games and then it was like all right? Let's relax this a bit mount your phone to the side of the camera. So now usually we have our phone mounted to the side and then my camera and my a 7 s 3

01:00:38.57
aaronmannes
Um, huh.

01:00:40.74
Josh
Is with the 7 8 200 and I'll use that for some closer imagery. But um, that's been that's been different I've I've grown to like it. The iphone cameras are getting pretty insane nowadays. Um, but as far as challenges. Ah. With the job staying out of the way as a challenge sometimes because there's a lot of restrictions in terms of you can't you can go here but you can't go there so there's always rules depending on what stadium event you're in where you can go um, players are moving quick. So like you always see the videos of people getting blasted on sidelines.

01:01:03.67
aaronmannes
Um.

01:01:15.72
aaronmannes
Are.

01:01:16.20
smacey
Um, she.

01:01:18.29
Josh
Players say you got to be ready to go to move. Um, that's one of the pros of using the iphone actually is you're able to just move wherever real easily? Um, so that's a big challenge. Um I feel like.

01:01:25.58
aaronmannes
Yeah, that's true.

01:01:25.65
smacey
Right.

01:01:33.92
Josh
Another challenge that was unearth this year was if you're using the phones you may get some some crap from some of the other photographers. Um because they're like what are you doing down here with your phone type thing and had a few we I think we all had a few run ins of like people kind of being like who's this guy. Um.

01:01:42.99
smacey
Oh right? yeah.

01:01:49.71
smacey
E.

01:01:52.52
aaronmannes
Um, but.

01:01:53.79
Josh
So you just kind of gotta you know, stay cool. Do your job and just be happy. Um, right? I'm like it's slowly our job like I'd rather have my foot or my camera too. But right? um.

01:01:55.44
aaronmannes
Yeah, know like I get it man. They told me I have to like I I don't want. No yeah, it's a thing we do. We have to use our phone I know.

01:02:12.58
Josh
Let's see what else is a challenge. Well I'd say a big challenge too is just like it's kind of the luck of the draw. Sometimes if you if you're in a good spot for a play. Um, especially with football like a lot of times you'll be on the complete opposite end zone and if they go on that side.

01:02:20.29
aaronmannes
Moving.

01:02:30.72
Josh
You're not really getting anything that's useful. Um, you can get a cool side angle maybe but it's just with the way those stadiums work you need to be like they need to be coming like at you or um to your corner so positioning yourself um, being in the right place The right time there was.

01:02:40.40
smacey
Um, right.

01:02:48.37
Josh
Several occasions this year where I was in a sweet spot and I was like you know I'm going to go over here just to you know, try and as soon as I left then something crazy happened at the sweet spot. Um, or I'd be on the complete opposite side of the field and um, you know that happens a lot too. So.

01:02:55.23
aaronmannes
Course yup.

01:03:06.58
Josh
You Scott I got to feel it out and use your best judgment.

01:03:10.59
aaronmannes
Yep, that's wildlife pick a spot. Don't don't move around. Do not move around. Yeah maybe doesn't.

01:03:11.00
smacey
Yeah, pick a spot but put your spot in the best put yourself in the best spot to succeed and maybe it happens. Maybe it doesn't well Josh thanks so much for your time today man. Um.

01:03:13.47
Josh
Yeah.

01:03:20.40
Josh
Exactly.

01:03:25.55
smacey
People can find your podcast mvp podcast is that all they need to search. We'll put a link in the episode description if people are interested in that. Um your media companies orchard yeah orchard eight media also in the episode description as well as your handle. So um, appreciate your time today man.

01:03:32.31
aaronmannes
Um, in her.

01:03:33.25
Josh
Yep, and Vp Podcast

01:03:42.74
smacey
Ah, hopefully we get to meet someday hopefully get down to Pittsburgh I'll I'll ah meet Ian at some point I'm sure and I'll reach out to you maybe say hello. So again, thanks a lot man appreciate it.

01:03:43.95
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

01:03:53.77
Josh
Yeah, absolutely thanks for having me on. It was a lot of fun appreciate it.

01:03:56.67
aaronmannes
Thanks Jess.