Hi, welcome back to Eat Your Crest Podcast. I'm Jisoo and Crystal. I'm Jason. I'm Jeff.
Welcome Jason and Jeff, a couple of new faces for the podcast. We were actually introduced to
you through a mutual friend who was also on the podcast before Eugene. He was on the episode
about hinge dating. I think that was sometime last year. It was a great episode, so listeners,
if you haven't checked it out, definitely take a listen. So Jason and Jeff are two filmmakers in
LA, but thought it would be awesome to talk about their latest project and also just kind of that
filmmaker life out in LA. Yeah, I've been doing film for quite a long time. I've been always
interested in it since I was like a kid. Started it when I was like 13. I was like really fascinated
with anime. So I made this thing called like anime music videos. Oh my god. Oh, did you guys
watch anime music videos? Is it like the maple story clips? I also made maple story clips.
It's exactly like that. So I was really into like 90-sit pubs, so I like take two pop songs and put
it next in the art. I put it on YouTube and that's kind of how I got started. And I was basically the
video kid all the way throughout high school. When I turned 18, I was like, oh, I'm going to be
famous on YouTube. So I started applying for like jobs on Craigslist of all places. And I found an ad
that ad said must be Asian, must have camera, must like Asian food. And it was for the fun brothers
that was like like first job at a high school. That's actually how I met Jason. Because Jason was a
music video director at that time. He did like some of fun brothers making music videos, six or six
boba live. Am I correct? And I was like PA. There was one music video that Jason, I think that's
the first music video that I met Jason on. He wasn't directing. I think you were gaffing. I had the
twerk in a panda costume. That was like my first set experience. They're like put on this panda
costume and twerk. And I was like, I didn't even know what twerk man at that time. So I just dance.
And I was like, oh, this is film life here in LA, I guess.
Welcome to YouTube, I guess.
Especially that era of YouTube was like a lot of absurdity.
That's so interesting. I feel like anime music videos and like maple story music videos were such
a huge thing back in our childhood. I remember I used to watch some. I like started to learn how to
make some of them too. And I was like, this is way more complicated than it seems. So that's so
funny that that was like the start of your interest into filmmaking. Did you ever upload any?
Like, are they still available somewhere? No, I think I uploaded one to show some friends. And then
after a while, I was like, I should wipe this from the internet. Wait, I'm so curious. What did
you upload a video of you lip singing? Or was it like clips of a TV show or something? Oh, it was like
a maple story one. So I literally made it look like the maple story character was singing.
Like I made their mouth movements and all of that and like move their arms around.
I'm impressed honestly. I think back in high school actually a lot of like school projects were
also music videos. We did like a music video for APLIT and then like a bunch of other science
classes. We would like lip sync to a video or something like that. So I feel like that was a
music video crazy time. Man, this is a good segue back to Eugene. One of the reasons why I love
Eugene is I remember he had a school video project in high school where he um this song was chemist
with an attitude. It was the NWA song, but it was all like chemistry oriented. Oh my god. I'm like
that's such a lost period of our childhood when we were doing cringey parodies for school projects.
Like I bet everybody has like a cringey school video project in their archive somewhere.
For sure. Thinking back though, I'm also like why did they even make us do video projects? We had
no intro to like using any of the video software and like not all video software is free. So
I don't know what they were expecting from us. That's true. They must have been like your kids,
you'll get it. You guys got computers, you know? It's really funny because I'm like 10 years
later than Jeff. And so when I was in this version of what you guys are describing in high school,
no one else was doing it. Not too many people have video cameras in general and the process of
having a camera and putting it onto your computer was a very complicated process. I did do that
stuff in high school, but it was very rare at the time. And that's kind of what got me into like
filmmaking. And so it's kind of funny that I think about now a lot of YouTube or is even in high
school. They're actually very skilled at crating video. They have so many technical skills shooting.
I'm seeing these tutorials, these really advanced tutorials. And I'm looking at them. And I'm like,
are you in high school or college? This is like really good content. And you see very knowledgeable
and technical. I feel like it gets even crazier too when you see people on TikTok do like the
transitions. Yes. Because they'll do it for like 40 seconds. Like they're filming the whole thing
in 40 seconds. But you look at the actual outcome of it. And it's like a crazy video with so many
different filters and transitions. And I'm like, how are they planning this? It's like they already
know how to use the software and it's like baked into their brain. Otherwise, it would be impossible
to make a video like that so quickly. I met someone that did a lot of that type of work. And it was
funny because when she was describing video, she was saying, I don't even know how to use a real camera.
That's like too complicated for me. But the phone is her tool. And she's an expert at that tool
or TikTok specifically. So that was kind of crazy hearing that. Yeah. I guess that makes so much sense
because our phone cameras are so powerful now. Sometimes my parents will ask like, oh, didn't you
you know, have that old DSLR or something? Why don't you use that to take photos? And I'm like,
our phones are basically more powerful than whatever DSLR I bought like 10 or 15 years ago.
So true. So then for you Jason, since you had way less video exposure or just like random video
projects from school, what was maybe like the spark that got you interested into video production
or just like video editing? I remember I had a friend who was a handful of years older, he was
really techy. And I remember this is probably, I don't remember when this year was, but this is
over 20 years ago. And I remember just being a little kid and him showing me a video that he made.
And this is on probably some very, very early version of Adobe Premiere. I don't even know how
he figured out to do it. And if someone saw this video today, they would think it's just completely
like home video trash. But to me, him editing people, having video images of people I knew
completely kind of remove the current of filmmaking. And it opened the idea that it's actually
possible. I think before that moment, I never thought that making videos or anything that was
even possible. It was like some distant reality. And I think once that was implanted my mind,
I couldn't get out of it. And I had a friend who had a video camera and we would run around
shoot videos. And he would edit on his VCR. Oh my god. Those people who know that is, he would edit
the videos on his VCR. I didn't know how to do that. And then it wasn't until I got a little older,
got a video camera, we started shooting stuff. And that was kind of the spark. It was around high
school when I when I got into it. And from there, I couldn't, I couldn't let it go. It was too much fun.
Dude, that's crazy. How do you even edit on VCR? I had the same thought.
So I think he had two VCR. I don't know how exactly works, but you have your video camera connected
to the VCR. And then you push record on the VCR. And then it basically records whatever's on the TV.
And so then he would go to the camera and fast forward or rewind to a different part.
And then push play. And then he would push record. So it was a very manual process.
And so based up how he records. And if he messed up, he has to rewind on the VCR and then rerecord that
part. Dang. Oh my god. Yeah, I was thinking about it. I was like, okay, I know how to like record
over old film on VCR. But that's that sounds extremely complicated. Very tedious, but that's all we
knew at the time. I mean, I didn't know I didn't even how to do it. But he was doing it. He would cut
something that we had shot. You know, I don't know how long it'd taken, but he would just be doing it
for hours. And it was pretty, it was pretty nuts. Wow. Would he like screen things for his friends at
home? Like after you made the video, what happened to it? It was really just for us. I think, I think
it might have been a time when we would show it to people, but it was really just to show each
other and we'd go to each other's house and watch it. That was it. Dang, that's so cool. At that
point, it's like truly a dedication to the craft. We didn't know better. So that was actually kind
of normal. It was almost the same way people might treat Minecraft or anything today. It's just
something they would do. Like people who build these insane Minecraft buildings. That was like
it's our version of, you know, work just kids spending time making stupid videos, but that's what it was.
Man, I want to hear in Jason, you don't have to tell this, but I'm like super curious about the
time you went viral. And I don't even know the story yet. Which, what are you referring to?
Is this something I heard from Nate that you did some type of lip sync video that went viral
before like YouTube was a thing. Oh, do tell. So for YouTube, people would just pass videos on
the internet. They would be websites or I don't even remember the websites, but there would be
different websites you can download or there was another thing called IRC. And essentially it's a
database that you have to like put in codes and then download the videos manually and you can
kind of search for stuff there. Maybe like kind of like the pre-torn era, so to speak, but I wouldn't
say it was that viral, but I basically did a lip sync video. But I put a little twist to it where
because I had some basic video editing skills, I would crop myself and then I did multi-cam type of
thing where it would be like me doing one part, me doing one part and then me doing another part.
And it was a very like shitty version of this edit thing, but at the time people were just doing
it on like a webcam. Whereas I was actually trying to put some video editing technique into it.
My friend always jokes. He said, you were doing TikTok 20 years before TikTok. If you kept going
with it, you could be a billionaire right now. I mean, yeah, I feel like that was super ahead of
its time. Like that kind of reminds me of back in the day when YouTube covers were huge. Like people
pretty much did that kind of edit for their covers. Someone's playing the guitar and then they cut
it like, you know, someone playing the piano and then all the people harmonizing and all that kind
of stuff. So this is a very inventive. I'm press I'm like, I think I'm like, man, I thought
that before YouTube was even invented. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. You kind of like predicted the
future actually. That's kind of that is wild. I feel like stuff. If only if only your video to be
honest should be in a museum. Like I would see it. I wouldn't want to go to a museum where it has
videos that are like dated like this. I did a lip sync to Jessica Simpson's. I want to love you
forever. And I think the the dress, the position of an Asian guy singing that at the time, I think
was really absurd and weird and unexpected. I think that was part of the viral draw.
Maybe that song choice is amazing. That's so sick. It's like that reminds me of like, do you all
remember the viral like I think it was also a lip sync video. It's like Asian guys doing backstreet
boys and they were like dancing to it. And that one went really viral. I think towards the beginning
of YouTube. I remember you're like in like one small college dorm room or something, right? Exactly.
Yeah. There was a group called the bok choy boys that did something like that they would do either
covers or they would do the parodies of those songs. And there was like a bunch of Asian guys.
Yeah, I feel like there are so many gyms. Yeah, during the early internet because everyone's like,
oh, well, I guess I can just like put up just random shit that comes to my mind. I mean, I think
the origin of Ryan Higa is just that he put videos on YouTube because he was trying to show his
family. And then he was like, oh, wait, actually the whole world can see this like, oh, my bad.
But now I feel like there's way more rules in filmmaking almost TikTok even YouTube YouTube shorts.
It's always like what kind of content are you creating? So YouTube is almost more reserved for like
super high quality independent filmmakers who are making super high quality stuff that are
almost like documentary or movie level. And then TikTok is like really fast paced and the little
more casual, but like gimmicky almost in some ways like the transitions that we talked about. So
I feel like nowadays in terms of that like insane weirdness and like creativity, it's kind of
gone down in a sense, but it's still very interesting to see how quality overall has like improved.
Super impressive. I just feel some of the content I see from really young people. I would,
I could never at their age. This is insane quality and I'm so impressed by some of the stuff that I see.
Yeah. Hey, don't discount yourself. You're a visionary.
True. I think a video must be like a second language as the kids, you know, like I back kids
just grew up watching video. They probably watched videos before they can read it right.
It's true. It makes me wonder though, because I guess back when content and like creation wasn't
as easy to do, I feel like a lot of the times we were kind of walking around observing life, right?
And then whatever you wanted to put into the camera was things that you maybe observed about life
and thought was interesting enough to kind of rewatch later. But it's interesting because if TikTok is
so easy for kids to pick up especially and that's something that they're constantly on, then our
creators that are kind of younger and born into that TikTok era, like do they kind of have that
TikTok mindset when it comes to creating stuff? So like, are they maybe more thinking like, oh,
I saw that this went viral. So I'm thinking in ways that will make something go viral versus maybe
back then we were kind of thinking like the world is so beautiful. I'm not to over idealize the past,
but truly it was kind of more like we were immersed in the world rather than like real life being
half of our real lives. Like now the digital world is so real as well. This kind of goes into my own
film journey. Like I mentioned to you guys on the pre-call that I'm focusing on fashion now and
other stuff. And after pursuing video for professionally for 10, 12 years, I got pretty burnt out.
And there wasn't even a conscious burnout. It was very subconscious. And I was relatively happy in
my journey, but it wasn't until the pandemic where things kind of stopped and I had time to reflect
and I realized that it wasn't something that I still loved it and I was still happy about doing
it. But there was something about it that I felt really tired from and I think it was maybe the
next step of what you're describing where people are thinking about audience and content and
reception and virality as one of the main drivers for how they create. And I think for myself,
my version of that was a sustainable working video career and job. And so all the art I created,
the video I created was with how to make money at top of mind. And I lost the joy of why I was
creating. And I was having a hard time to blend. I think the people who are very successful can kind
of blend both really well where they're able to please a client and make money and generate
something that somebody wants, but also enjoy that process where I was really just trying to do
what I thought other people wanted to do. And I felt really tired and I think even in a way that
with filmmaking, I think it's already difficult enough to become a movie person that makes movies
and theaters. I don't, I only know one person that I know who wasn't that and that actually became
that out of hundreds of filmmakers that I've met, especially as a director, maybe in other
positions I've seen that happen, but someone that's like a nobody that becomes a director that's
making movies, this in theaters is really, really rare. And so just that is already difficult enough,
but to have that whole journey and process where I feel that I'm just giving and giving without
actually doing anything that I enjoy, I think really drained. I mean, it wasn't sustained in the long run.
And so I feel like as I'm coming back to it and even with this project, I do feel that sense of
meaning, joy, doing something that I like. I actually feel like I'm growing and this journey is
teaching me a lot about myself, but also stretching the boundaries of how I create, and that's really fun.
So interesting, dude. I feel like what you also talk about and Jesus' question,
how I'm thinking about it in my head is there's a larger question of how we reckon with
turning our passion into a commodity into something that is a part of the capitalist system and
has to be exchangeable for value, which is wildly different than why we got into our passions
at the first place, and that kind of disorientation or conflict and thought is difficult for everybody to
reckon with. And I feel like it's interesting thinking about that Jesus' question is about kids
and TikTok. I think most kids say they want to be a YouTuber as their job now, when they grow up,
which is so interesting, right? But I think that goes to show you that it's also a career that people
recognize in the same way that I don't know, there's like college majors for like eSports.
That's such a good point. Back in our day, especially for like, you know, us as children of immigrants
or like Asian-Americans, the idea of doing something that's not STEM is just so crazy. It's like,
what do you mean you want to make videos for YouTube? What does that even mean, right? And now it's
just like such a regular thing. It's actually, it's so crazy because I've seen my parents refer to
YouTube as like a money-making avenue now as well, and I'm like, where was this like, you know,
where was this 10 years ago? Now it's like, oh, these people are putting just putting stuff on YouTube
and making money. And I was like, okay, first of all, it's not that easy, but also.
Are they telling you in the context of like giving you advice? I think like they said one of their
friends who likes to hike takes videos of their hikes and just like puts it on YouTube or something,
and they're like, yeah, they get X amount of views, they'll get like a little bit of money. So like,
who knows if they get way more views? Like, that's a lot of money, right? And I'm like, okay, yes,
but also, you know, it's not that easy. We've actually been watching YouTube growing up,
but it feels like, at least my parents are like just discovering the potential of YouTube and
just like capitalist potential of virality. It's really funny because I remember around,
we had the time that Jeff, I made me even the bullet earlier, that early, like if you were watching
like Asian American YouTube during the late 2000s and early 2010s, YouTube kind of felt like a
little bit of a ghetto where people who couldn't make into Quonco Hollywood, they all put their films
and stuff in YouTube and it kind of blew up and it was a self-sustaining kind of environment and
ecosystem and people, the musicians, Asian singer, songwriters were able to have a career where they
get to around the world just off of the fame they got on the internet. For it to kind of go into
a place where now the ghetto is now the goal. He's kind of crazy when I think about it in that way.
It's kind of got gentrified, right? I mean, that's kind of what it is and now it's like people see
value in it and they want to buy a property here. That's true. That's so crazy. YouTube is gentrified.
That is a good way of putting it though because now like people come on YouTube, their first video
is like so well produced already or like they're already hiring editors to help with thumbnail creation,
video edits, all that kind of stuff. But like, you know, just 10, 15 years ago, the first video on
every channel is probably like the grainiest, like, you know, most jank video that they could come up
with and then you slowly see the like progress of improvement. I will say that maybe the good part
about seeing the platform grow and maybe Jason, you can attest to this too is that the genres
have diversified. Like the type of content before on YouTube was like there's also still a type of
genre, right? Like acoustic pop covers of Billboard top 100 songs and so on and so forth or like
talking heads or they just rant about a controversial opinion to camera. Me and Jason talk about like
cinematic vlogs being this really cool in between of like YouTube content and filmmaking and
I think if there's no YouTube, they wouldn't be this genre and I feel like we both love that genre
and like watching it. Do you guys remember when YouTube used to recap the whole year and have a
basically get the top YouTubers to do something? Yeah. One of the conversations I heard about that was
now that it's expanded too much and there's so many niches that have millions, potentially
billions of views that they can't even fit all of them in one video because it doesn't even make
sense because it's so wide at this point. Whereas before it was kind of limited to America or North
America and you have these top YouTubers that you can just pick and these 30 people are in the
video. Now it's hundreds and hundreds of people and there's no way to actually create a recap because
your version of YouTube may not even exist and they may have billions of views but you watched the
video and you're like I have no idea who 95% of these creators are. This makes no sense to me. Whereas
before you kind of get to see this like a multiverse of YouTubers and then you kind of enjoy that
super collaboration where now it's just so wide that doesn't even make sense. Yeah that's a really
good point because I remember towards the end of those recaps people kept complaining like how could
you have not included this YouTuber or that one or whatever and then I feel like at the time it was
such a like oh my god how could they not have put this person in. Now looking back it's like okay
yeah it makes sense that this is what caused the downfall of those recaps and just the crazy
expansion and like what felt like exponential timeline. Well it's still crazy that YouTube still
here though like I feel like so many video platforms has come and gone and it's still kind of like
where people end up. Well we also mentioned how thanks to YouTube and other such platforms there are
just basically genres that might not even exist in the world today without these platforms so
some that you mentioned earlier cinematic vlogging. Honestly like vlogging itself is kind of a platform
specific genre as well and I feel like something else that will also forever live on YouTube is
music videos. So so many different genres of music videos too. The anime music videos that
just made back in the day. The legitimate Hollywood production music videos that we get and then also
kind of tying into what we mentioned earlier like how those Asian American artists were creating
music and music videos on YouTube. So I guess to tile all of that together it relates to the
project that you to have been working on lately which is also a music video. So for this music
video project what is the biggest theme would you say. I think the main theme of this project is
to explore the gray area of past relationships. It's easy to think about it in black or white
especially when there's painful breakups which I've experienced as well I think at the end of the day
are more nuanced. Me and Jason's perspective on relationships the more nuanced perspective is
that the really isn't the right or wrong sometimes it just doesn't work even if it was a good
relationship there might have still been love there probably was love and it was real and it was
tangible but sometimes it just doesn't work and exploring and having an audience refer a couple
that they like but it doesn't necessarily work out in the end but that's okay I think is what we're
trying to say with this film. I think one thing that we touch on in the music video is memories and how
depending on our lens we can judge the memories as a positive or negative thing it becomes just a
texture of the whole experience. We wanted to kind of explore that idea throughout the project.
Yeah and I think like one thought I have is the theme of your music video sounds very relatable
and I feel like that's something that maybe is sometimes hard for really big production companies
that are like you know Hollywood machines to showcase or create. I feel like it's a big discourse
lately that you know all these rich people, rich and famous people are super out of touch with
you know just like us regular people. I think it's nice to see that smaller or independent
filmmakers still explore these like deeper themes and can show something that most people can relate to.
One thing that I think was special about this project was that the artist that funded the project
and it's essentially a passion project and he used his life savings to put this towards a video.
He wanted to do something that represented the album but the album was a process of like seven
years in the making and there were so many things that he wanted in it. He gave us a lot of creative
freedom to kind of explore whatever we want to explore. Translate the things that we received from
his album into some sort of video and that relationship I think is fairly rare where most people have
a lot of opinions or they wanted a specific way but he really gave us freedom to kind of explore
and I think that's that's a pretty rare thing that definitely wouldn't happen I think with a
traditional studio especially if they've never put out any music there's no way they would give
a creative license to create whatever with a budget and all that so it almost feels like this is
something that would only exist on the internet with people who really have a belief in passion for
whatever they're creating. For sure this is like truly independent like we basically worked
without a deadline I mean it was like whenever we felt good about it like so we would spend sessions
at our office I mean just who would be like I'm like what's up with your love life man. Tell me
what's going on like tell me your history like we just got to like we were already close but I
think through the project and working on this topic matter we got even closer just sitting
outside the little patio chairs. A lot of group therapy even like for the artist to June say just
like get it to know about his I mean the original name of the album was love story so it was just like
a matter of exploring throughout this past history and trying to like come away with new thoughts
and feelings about it and that definitely our own experience is definitely a big inspiration for
the eventual music video. Yeah I wish I could have sat in on some of those tea sessions feel like
there was a lot of cost shared probably. Lots of tea porn. So then I guess if a lot of this project
was kind of left up to both of your interpretations of the music how much of your real experiences
do you think are in the music video. I guess like the direct question would be if you know some of your
exes were to sit down and watch this music video do you think they would be like oh shit this was
from 2012 like this was back when we were dating or do you think you kind of try to extrapolate
the bigger themes out of your love life. Well we started the video project this was in summer of
2021 is that right? Yes, two years ago. Summer 2021 so it's been two and a half years since the project
was we had our first meeting as a group. The artist actually reached out to me about the project
probably three years ago and so it's been a long process and when I started the project I was single
and then during the project I was in a relationship and then I went through a breakup and now that's
that was like a year later and now we're finally releasing the project. In creating the project I
don't think there was anything that necessarily drew from the relationship thousand that was already
kind of happening while we were already where the project was already shot but if you were to watch
the project I think it's a natural question to ask and I thought that's a funny coincidence or
we talked about how sometimes art imitates life and then life imitates art where someone who
watched that and knew me might say oh this must be from your personal experience but I'm like no
I actually shot this before I was even in that relationship and so it's kind of this funny thing where
I'm sure there was subconscious influences from just general relationships but also even as I'm
making it there's maybe the subtle choices that I make but when we were writing it it was when I
was single and so the fact that I went through this whole relationship arc during the music video
making process it's kind of funny. That is pretty funny. Like was there a moment halfway where you were
like oh I think we have to change this one part like now that I'm wise you know some of this needs
to change. As I admit her as a artist I feel like that's the stuff you got to keep in. The uncomfortable
embarrassing stuff and I wouldn't even say there's anything directly that correlates to my life
specifically but when I feel that embarrassment or oh this is too raw I feel like that's the stuff
that has to go in. That's fires. I think that's what makes it feel you know three-dimensional.
That's stuff where I think there's a lot of directors that when I watch their movies I see
parts of their life in there and the fact that I'm questioning whether it was real or not I love that.
I guess you can never put something out that's like not never but like if you put stuff out that's
less polished or like sugar-coated then it's more possible that people will be like oh yeah like
that happened to me too. I'm I'm cringing right along with you. It's a little bit Taylor Swift S.
A couple weeks ago Crystal and I and a bunch of our friends had like a karaoke night at our place
and our two friends are like huge swifty so then they sat us down and we watched the entire
all-too-well 10-minute version music video together on the couch. The whole time I was like oh my
god I'm just witnessing like exactly what happened in Taylor's social relationship. Oh my god yeah.
At some points I think they paused and they're like explaining parts of it to us.
You'll break down. The Taylor Swift lore.
And also they were like singing along to the whole thing and like the full 10-minute version
music video has that part in the middle where it's just like no music and the two actors are arguing.
We were like wait should we switch to the like non-music video version? They're like not. Watch
the argument like I think they even like said the argument lines with the
I think they already knew it. You can memorize it. It was so funny but yeah it was like a really good
story told and you know at first we were skeptical about it but then as it was going on we were
like engrossed. We were like oh yeah like what's gonna happen next oh my god like. Dang I feel like
we should watch it. You probably should it's kind of juicy. Jeff do you feel like the how much
of love story or no culture in summer do you feel like you drew from certain things? I remember
one of the writing process that we did was write a backstory for our characters and that backstory
was I just basically wrote my own like like experience like a compilation almost of like
past relationships and even like some from my current relationship. Was the party scene? That
was something you wrote right? The party scene was actually from my own love love yes. So I guess
the other detail of this is the editor and my partner in pop-up media the production company
is Kelsey who's also my girlfriend. That party scene was inspired by the first time that we met.
I didn't know that was Kelsey. And she was in the scene as an extra too. She was. She was.
She was. Yeah yeah yeah. It's a cameo. Wow that's cool. I feel like is it is it kind of weird to
feel like publishing a little bit of backstory about yourself? I guess not because I feel like
it feels very obscured. I don't think people would know that necessarily you know there are certain
details that were changed to make it less specific. I don't think people would know. I think
the experiences are just inspiration points and then from there we build the whole world. So
it could be something that happened that was real but then we contextualize it to the character's
experience and then what would make sense within this world. And so if it matches with maybe
our own personal experience or you know the writer's experience then we can kind of go with that but
if it doesn't even make sense we just kind of bring it back to the character and build off that.
I guess even with a little bit of obstruction I can only imagine you would have to feel so vulnerable
right like putting out these things that may have been painful or like Jason said embarrassing
maybe even memories from pre real adult like you're probably like 1415 and some of these
relationships like how do you kind of grapple with these thoughts of oh god these are like some
potentially painful memories in my past but also this would be like really good juicy shit
for the music video. This is kind of like a ten-gen serializer but I feel like as artists you have
to find this medium ground of like exposing yourself to like pass wounds and like making yourself
super cringe without like going too far where you're like sent into a whole depression. You just
have to like open up the like seal a little bit like inside you're like oh remember let me start
writing this down you know without like opening it too wide. There's something definitely could
cathartic about the experience and maybe this is kind of twisted but I remember in early
relationships and this is when I was in film school I would be having an argument I had it with
my ex during the argument I'm like oh this is really good for a script and that's like this too
because the the passion and energy felt so visceral and I felt that this could be such great
stuff for a script or a story and not like partially being thinking about that but also being in
this argument at the same time so I'm frustrated at the argument but also excited at the art that
I could create from this and I feel this a little bit of sitting in a lot of artists I definitely
I'm not saying that Taylor Swift sabotages her own life to create art but sometimes it feels like
that you know it's like oh another boyfriend another story what's next you know in the next album
is gonna have some super bowl content who knows you know you know like the life imitates art and
the art imitates life thing like also happens to me where I was like Kelsey and I would have a
fight and I'm like am I hearing lines from the actual like music video I started like disassociating
because I went third like third person or looked at myself like what's happening like
they're like mentally recording this yeah that kind of back-of-war for us it gets weird actually
just because we were working on it so long and I was also editing it so I was just like watching it
again and again I was like brainwashing myself wow then do you feel like your art imitates life
a little more often or your life imitates your art my gut feeling is that
consciously art imitates life but subconsciously the other way around where the things I've created
now become a part of the things I think about and even the things I consume become some of the
things that I think about so not even us in my own personal art but art in general yeah but I
feel like that's a very subconscious process versus the other way around where I'm creating from
my experiences or things I'm thinking about retweet I like what you said though Jason about how
sometimes it's not even your own art that you're like getting sucked into I feel like sometimes when
I'm binging a show I like become the main character I'm like okay I'm just gonna pick up this
main character's traits and become them for like the next week because I'm so obsessed with
this show or whatever yeah dude when I had my succession obsession I think almost exactly a year ago
I literally became Kendall Roy himself and I like threw myself into work and I like started so
many projects I was like gunning for this promotion and then I picked up like a new obsession like
I think it's hard watching like gossip girl or something and immediately I was like I'm no longer
motivated to artwork onto the next phase of my life that's how crazy it is interesting how like
media and like the stuff we consume can modulate our emotions we can kind of almost tune our emotions
based off like what we consume whether that's a hit it up or like a certain show yeah for sure and
I feel like this is I mean we've been talking about videos and stuff but I feel like this could
also totally happen for reading scripts or or like you know reading books especially because books
give you so much like specific like detail and word and then you just imagine it all in your head
I feel like it's really putting the subconscious out work versus you know films and stuff they'll
kind of set the scene for you you have to do a little less mental labor you just imagine yourself
there so I think that's also kind of an interesting thing but then for you too as like filmmakers you
have to turn the words that you first created into like the whole world so how is that process like
this is probably my favorite part of the process I think one of the most exciting things about
filmmaking is creating dialogue or writing lines and then hearing someone else say it or hearing
someone say it on camera or seeing it in the edit that to me is really the magic of filmmaking for
me where I have argument or I have not necessarily I have a conversation or I have an emotion I'm trying
to evoke and I figure okay what's the best way to say this or tell this and from there seeing it
being read by the actors then we record it and then seeing it in the edit room that's the magic
or the specialness that I think is one of the favorite parts of the process so what you said Jason
made me think of like one of my favorite scenes from the music video is we shot at ABC cafe
which is kind of this iconic vintage Hong Kong diner in Monor Park originally we have an idea of
some type of late night restaurant but like from writing it and then seeing the location to talk
into the owner to them letting us shoot to putting the actors inside the scene and then lighting it
and then watching it from camera it's like what Jason said is almost feels like it feels like this
direct output from your brain into like something you're seeing with your eyes it's really
trippy and very gratifying yeah I think there's almost for me it's almost like the addiction of
filmmaking if you will where knowing that that's possible and kind of chasing that feeling constantly
and that's the thing that I think drives a lot of filmmakers at least for myself I feel that's
always something that I'm always excited about is the the days we get to go film the days we get to go
beyond set those are the funnest for me yeah do sometimes find though that when actors kind of
bring whatever you wrote to life it turns out completely different than what you imagine because
I'm sure you're sort of visualizing something when you put pen to paper but I feel like just like how
you guys interpreted the music for your music video actors when they see a script they also
interpreted it themselves their own experiences so is it sometimes completely different from your
intentions yeah for sure I think also in terms of relationships and love every when one comes from
a different context and different experience so it's it's our job to kind of align with like the
actors but also hear their like opinions and input on what they feel when they're like embodying
the script and the words and the context and the emotions that they're feeling in the moment that
process I would say is also very gratifying because then you can kind of see the script or the scene
in different angles the delivery access to access it in different ways the kind of back and forth
being changed in the rhythm of it that part of it is very interesting and then also that's just
the rehearsal or even the active part of it and then going into editing and being able to fine tune
that further with our project we wrote some lines for all the scenes but certain scenes we kind of
gave the actors a lot of freedom to operate and that's where the what you mentioned I think happens
a lot where they bring in whatever they're feeling in that moment and that could be from who knows what
whether it was their own personal experiences or the way they interpret the character
and lines and words would just come out we as directors need to kind of dial this to make sure
that it'll fit in the whole context but within that moment in the world sometimes we don't know
what they're going to say and there was some stuff where we were we we would feel that in the moment
you know they're just yelling at each other and I'm like oh my god this is the same and just living
living through it you know with them in that moment and then the craziest thing is we have to do
another take so it's that like discharge and then we reset and then they got to do it again and
shout out to the actors who have to kind of emotionally donate and give their energy you know to
the world to to the camera there was a blow-off by scene in the music video and I feel like that
was probably some of the best acting for both actors and even to the point where it's like we did
and necessarily scripted the crying scene but it just kind of came naturally surprises like that are
it is so cool you're like oh my god I can't believe it's happening right now I feel like kind of
to tie into that though there's a certain level of maybe like artistic freedom that you have to get
used to or maybe freedom isn't the right word but essentially like you have a picture in your mind
but it kind of morphs and changes as the process goes on because there's so many artists work
on one project you know the actors the directors all of that stuff you kind of have to let go of some
things is what I'm imagining and I guess my question for that is like do you find it comes
easily for the most part or is it sometimes really hard to like let go of this I guess almost like
perfectionism kind of feeling me personally I feel like having made films for so long now
I've given that up entirely like I fully acknowledge that filmmaking is like a team sport just to use
a basketball analogy there's like no hero ball here like there really can't be made without other
people I just accept that the changes that happen are part of the fun and part of the dynamic nature
of making something together I approach filmmaking with open hands it's it's something we all share
yeah I think the idea of perfection in terms of getting exactly what you want or exactly what
you need or exactly what you envision and having to translate perfectly efficiently from the whole
processing is not realistic or I don't think anyone's experience a filmmaking is like that there's
always going to be things that maybe affect the schedule or availability or just different factors
all that plays into how things kind of happen I think there's also the flip side where you have
these quote-couple happy accidents and that adds to the film you something you didn't necessarily
plan for but it becomes the perfect thing that you didn't know you needed until you saw it and you
have it and so both contribute to the process and the final output and I think that's that's part
of the fun there's like a little bit of this randomness and faith almost yeah filming is almost
got faith journey a little bit too yes there's both options too or it's like it might be not as
good as we've heard you imagine but there's also times where it's way better than you could have
even imagined yeah I guess it's kind of a truly art imitating life because life also doesn't
always go as planned and can't be too perfectionist about how everything ties together in life
especially like relationships kind of like the whole theme of the music video is about I feel like
it's really hard to be like all right this is this is how things are going to go between like you
and me and these are you know the things we need to be doing and getting everything down to a T kind
of just have to like ride the waves that's good that's good yeah I have a tangential story that
it made me think of something I like doing when I travel is if I encounter like an uncle I will ask
him like what his thoughts on love are and this is kind of like I'll try to contest the story but
one time I was in Korea with my friend John and we were hiking up this ridiculously long mountain
and the context is like last night we were clubbing so we're super hungover and he's like let's go
for a light hike this will kind of clear thing up it was it was not a light hike I don't think he
really read the signs he was like oh we're almost there literally four hours into the hike we finally
reached the peak and it's one of those like they had metal poles on the side of the mountain because
there's really no path you're kind of like scaling you're like 45 degrees on the mountain scaling
it and grappling this metal like broad to go up to the top we went there with one water bottle
just like completely unprepared like maybe on the brink of death but we're on the we're on the
peak of the mountain I'm looking at the like you put a song like I got a camp believer here I'm starving
we didn't eat like I think I had like a bagel and then I see an uncle in the distance he's like he
has a hat like a fruit knife and he's like a skinning a pair and I think I stared too long to the
pumper he walked over and handed us the pair oh my god it was the best pair I've ever had in my
life we both ate it and we thanked him previously and he was like do you guys have a way to get down
I was like is it more difficult to get down he's like yes it is getting dark long story short he
walks his down and we we're having this like kind of hard to hard and I'm asking like what he
thinks about love he was just telling you that like love is sacrifice just kind of like what you're
talking about crystal was like love is sacrifice and they just have the rule of the punches and
it's never going to be perfect but that's what's perfect about it is what he was telling me you know
a little delirious but I was like oh this is hidden you're right you know yeah we have a line in the
in the music video where we kind of reference that idea I think there's something about
using the football now just since the Super Bowl yesterday like Monday quarter of
asking and thinking about what it was it's easy to kind of frame it in these terms of sacrifice
and and all these things but in the moment it's so hard to are you sacrificing or are you
compromising your own integrity or are you whatever you know the negative version of
over sacrifice and giving too much in a way where you're taking away from maybe who you are as a person
and that can be unhealthy as well or overcompensating or whatever maybe and so I think there's these
nuances within the video that we're kind of exploring but it's it's fun to kind of observe it
as a as a filmmaker and kind of talk about it for the music video is the artist younger than you
too yeah so do you feel like in the process of like working with them to make the video he learned
a lot about love from you too whoa interesting I wish you was here to answer that question
we definitely lecture Tim we're getting him like the older brother energy we're like let me tell
you what you got to do man what do you think Jeff what do you think I don't know I you know okay
something about juicy I think it's the greatest trait is that he's very reassured I mean
obviously takes someone with like a high level confidence that like put their life saving towards
like a passionate project and being like it'll work out he was like very chill about everything
mm-hmm so I feel like I'm not sure if you learned anything because I feel like he himself has a very
self-reassured ideal almost like conceptual feeling of what love is to him and I feel like
maybe ours don't necessarily line up with him and I respect that I kind of respect his
his idealism towards love and I feel like that that was always his input on the project in general
and like what his experience was and what he wants to convey with his music is the ideal his ideals
on love yeah that's really good I guess that's a good way to put it because I feel like love is
something that's easier to teach than it is to learn because I'm sure everyone has had that
experience of you're like watching your close friend walk into something that you know is going
to be a disaster in like six months and no matter what you say no matter which way you say it or
how you try to show them nothing's gonna change because sometimes people just have to experience
things and I feel like love specifically it's like you just have to go through it and then you'll
take away what you want to take away or what is fitting for you to take away in that moment but it's
like there's just no way to actually communicate these things or pass these lessons on without that
experience and it also kind of makes me think about how love is such a subjective thing but I feel
like the way everyone talks about it can sometimes make it seem like it's objective especially when
people are like oh this person was so mature during the breakup or I was so mature whatever
it's like what does that even mean like what is maturity in a breakup like I don't I feel like
that line doesn't exist but everyone somehow kind of refers to it and I always feel like it's a very
like externally imposed line like it's like someone else is always telling you you're the mature one
but where is that objective line kind of so I think with this being like a major theme for your
music video crystal or kind of like outlining some of these things beforehand too and I was just
like all of this is so subjective so it's hard to actually have like objective ideas about it
I think that's a fun part of filmmaking is that we can present our ideas but at the end of the day
the audience makes their own decisions on what it is whether they agree with the what the
main character did or not or disagree but that's the conversation it's not really about a specific
we may have an agenda we may have a perspective but once the audience has a hold of it
it's out of our control it's out of our hands I think maybe our perspective on
that we're trying to show in this music video that you just helped us articulate is perhaps that
like we're trying to show that there is no objectivity that is the kind of gray areas that just
be like subjective and maybe the best way to approach love is to be like there is no objectivity
just live with the subjective I get the feeling that it's really easy to obsess over like what's
right and what's wrong but like you said there's so much gray area and we oftentimes get caught up
in maybe like the heat of the moment if it was you know say an argument or something you're like
I want to be right basically or I want this person to like agree with what I'm trying to say
and like understand what I'm trying to say that easily kind of snowballs into each side getting
more defensive or more angry and I think this kind of plays a role in larger filmmaking as well
sometimes I feel like the best films or videos or whatever are the ones at the end where you really
sit within you're like whoa like there's so many perspectives to consider hmm that's why Jason
has to watch past lives have you guys seen it I have I have not oh I think this is one of those
films that does that where you're like who are you reading for you know at the end yeah it's definitely
one of those like you sit down and you can't think about at the end you're like hmm what would I do
or like which one would I want to be hmm yeah go watch it go watch it yeah so speaking of you know
going to watch past lives we should definitely go see your music video yeah so can you let us know
when your music video officially releases and where we can find it yeah we have two really
exciting announcements one and the music video will be released on Valentine's Day February 14th
on one of my favorite YouTube channels one food productions which is a huge achievement for both
me and Jason we're super excited we even did like a interview with them and got to go to their
office I was geeking out the second announcement is that it's gonna be showing at the historian
Asian American Film Festival in Eugene Oregon on March 9th and that's our first film festival
premiere the Pacific Northwest premiere exciting stuff hopefully we'll have more submissions but
on YouTube February 14th in theaters March 9th well awesome I'm very excited to see it and
by the time this episode is released your video should already be up on the one food channel so
for our listeners out there definitely check that out and how can our listeners find YouTube
specifically you guys can follow me on Instagram at jason.huming.poon I'm also a fashion designer we
shouldn't talk about too much but my fashion brand is at Huming underscore underscore and also I started
the YouTube channel recently Jason food underscore after you're done you know supporting Jason and his
fashion design you can come to www.popimedia.la if you're an aspiring musician and you need a music
video we're here to help yeah so for our listeners out there definitely check these two out and
definitely watch the video and as usual you can find us on social media at your CrestPod and we
also have email eatyourcrestpod at gmail.com and if you'd like to catch our other episodes then
don't forget to follow us on Spotify Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts we upload
new episodes every Wednesday morning thanks for listening and don't forget to eat your crust.
