The Indy Mogul Podcast

A year ago, a young Ted had a dream to see one of his favorite YouTube channels come back to life again. So what does he do? He goes on a national tour with his talented editor friend, Minh Bui, to create 15 episodes from a 13-day trip to 10 cities. If that sounds near impossible to you right now, then trust us - the feeling was mutual. But thanks to their efforts to create an entertaining travel show for filmmakers, Indy Mogul is back and better than ever. On this episode, we sit down with editor Minh Bui to get his take on the trip, and learn what he learned while shooting throughout North America nonstop.

Producer walks in. He has this big-name artist. They need a music video. You're the guy. He gives you $40,000. You go out and rent the Alexa Mini, 10 Skypanels, and a technocrane. Meanwhile, production gets a dance crew, picture vehicle, animal wrangler, wardrobe truck, makeup department, and large studio. All for one day of shooting. What do you do? Justin Jones, who has shot music videos for Jaden Smith, Hopsin, and Wiz Khalifa, has been in these scenarios before and assures us it's all going to be okay - if we just follow these key tips. On this episode, Justin reveals his top music video secrets and go-to lighting setups when there's almost no time to shoot. 

Everyone has probably made a DIY shoulder rig for their camera at one point or another. Nothing can replace the pride of using a homemade softbox that only costs $15 to make and works like the real deal. With gear being as cheap as it is nowadays, is it really necessary to make that dolly or glidecam out of PVC pipes anymore? Erik Beck, master DIY filmmaker and prop builder, tells us that it is actually easier to make DIY equipment today and how you can start now.   On this episode, we catch up with what Erik has been doing since his initial farewell from Indy Mogul and cover the basic essentials to buy for DIY filmmaking.

What happens when you have an unflattering location, a very sunny day, and only 12 hours to shoot a high-budget commercial? With no time to light and a lot of producers breathing down your neck, it can be a struggle to get shots that are remotely good-looking. However, Parker Walbeck, legendary YouTube filmmaker who specializes in wedding, action, and lifestyle, tells us that if you can read your location correctly and point your camera in the right direction, you can make stunning images that will impress your high-end commercial clients.    On this episode, we uncover Parker's humble beginnings and teach you how to shoot cinematic exteriors without any lighting gear.

Filmmakers often forget that the key to great storytelling is to practice and keep things simple. We all want to write grandiose, blockbuster-level movies and saturate the dialogue with sophisticated poeticism, but what about the story? It could be easy to throw in fancy graphics and punchy shots in our early films, but Darious Britt, an independent filmmaker who runs the channel D4Darious, tells us that amateur filmmakers should start with making tiny, one-minute films to sharpen those storytelling muscles first before progressing to longer length and higher budget films.  On this episode, we teach you how to effectively practice filmmaking and what to do when you're starting your filmmaking career.

As artists and creatives, we know that filmmaking can take a toll on your physical and emotional health sometimes. We've all had to do odd jobs to fund our latest short film or make content for commercial's sake. We know your struggle, so we have educational filmmaking legend Ryan Connolly from Film Riot to talk us about how he continues to make films 10 years and 1,000 videos later. On this episode, we encourage you to ask these big questions before you begin, or end, your filmmaking career.  

The world of beauty and couture can be intimidating to step into, but our helpful guide, beauty cinematographer Philippe Maurice, gives us a glimpse into what it's like to be on a fashion shoot and what we have to think about when it comes to shooting for beauty and fashion.  On this episode, we talk about how to make your photos stand out and how to start your career in beauty photography, even when you don't necessarily own nice gear. 

Who says action filmmaking is just for Hollywood blockbusters? The steady development of compact cameras and stabilizers are allowing low-budget filmmakers to capture action and stunts beautifully without breaking the bank. On this episode, we cover the basics of shooting immersive action sequences with legendary YouTube filmmaker Devin Graham, the founder of the popular YouTube Channel devinsupertramp. 

In today’s fast-growing market for video equipment, what are the absolute necessities to get started with in filmmaking? We break down the 9 things that every filmmaker should have in their toolkit with the help of Caleb Pike, the founder of the popular gear review YouTube channel DSLR Video Shooter.

What's the secret to shooting that cinematic lifestyle BROLL that we see more and more in commercials and vlogs? Today, we sit down with travel and adventure filmmaker Matti Hapooja to get his advice!

We sit down with Diana Levine, an editorial photographer who's taken photographs of everyone from Barack Obama, to Alicia Keys, to John Legend and more to find out. We learn about why she only uses one light for most of her lighting setups, and what she focuses on during a shoot.

Is it possible to create an entire film world inside of a game engine? We talk to cinematographer and software developer Matt Workman of cinematography database to learn about Cine Tracer, a revolutionary previsualization and on set virtual production tool.  Cine Tracer is available on Steam for Mac OSX and Windows. 

What are the keys to product cinematography? This week we sat with commercial cinematographer and motion control supervisor Kazu Okuda, who has shot spots for Elle, Vogue, Express, Omega and a litany of product videos for brands like Dior, Hennessy, Chanel and Oscar de la Renta, to find out!  

Is it possible to shoot a cinematic, no budget, no prep music video in only 4 hours? To find out we sit down with Chrys from @YCImaging, a music video director who has shot hundreds of music videos before putting these tips to use and trying it for ourselves.

How can an $80 projector upgrade your Poor Man's Process? How can filmmakers learn to use the same projection techniques that were used in First Man (2018), Gravity (2013) and Oblivion (2013)? To find out we spoke to Charles Haine, a professor of cinematography at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema and a writer at NoFilmSchool.

Indy Mogul is back! Today we catch up with fellow co-host Griffin Hammond about his work covering the 2016 Presidential election with Bloomberg News and the process of creating his festival darling documentary "Sriracha." We also discuss the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking and how to film a documentary in one day.