Stay ConnectedIf you’re a film buff, this is not the podcast for you. Soo Zee and Leigh talk about film in the loosest sense of the word. Mostly it’s about what it means to be creative.
HI! We’re Soo Zee and Leigh and we Do Stuff and then make videos about it. Videos are real stories from our lives. It’s reality, only with a better narrator. We do stuff mostly in Berlin, Germany, but sometimes other places too.
Lots of people like to lump dance movies in with musicals, but we think they are a genre all their own. In this episode Soo Zee and Leigh discuss all the key elements of a dance movie and which dance movies make their list of all-time favorites. We're hard to predict; we hate on Swing Kids even though we think Do Kyung-soo can dance. We defend Step Up even though we think it's cheesy. We disagree about Honey. Listen to get the full lowdown. Here's a list of all the dance movies and musicals we mention: • La La Land (2016) • Singin' in the Rain (1952) • Swing Kids (2018) • Magic Mike XXL (2015) • Step Up (2006) • Honey (2003) • Center Stage (2000) • Save the Last Dance (2001) • Billy Elliot (2000) • Black Swan (2010) • Footloose (1984)
Genius or jerk? In this episode we give a few anecdotes from the work and business practices of seminal Walt Disney that only begin to touch on this complicated question. There's a reason why Walt holds a record for the most Academy Awards, and why Mickey Mouse is one of the most globally recognized figures. We talk about Walt Disney the man's vision and insane attention to detail, and Walt Disney the company's theme parks and copyright practices. • It all started with Snow White, which was not only the first full-length cel animated feature film, it was also the first Disney animated feature film. So yeah, Soo Zee was right. Technically, it's the first of the 15 official "Walt Disney Classics" home videos. • Before Snow White, Lotte Reiniger had already made a full-length animated feature called The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Disney didn't just know about it, he studied it, and even adopted her pioneering multi-plane camera setup. He then of course patented it https://patents.google.com/patent/US2201689A/en Her work is incredible. Watch it if you have some time, and try to remember her first feature came out a full decade before Disney's first did. • Disney's pre-Mickey character's full name was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Universal snatched the rights for Oswald. Mickey Mouse was intended to be a replacement character for Disney. • An old behind-the-scenes look at the cel animation for Snow White https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OebUzEhSLBI • Leigh said Toy Story was the first 3D animation film. To be more specific, Toy Story was the first feature-length film to be entirely computer-animated. • Dustin Curtis originally broke down the amazing speaker work at Disney World in an article titled "How Mr. Q Manufactured Emotion," but the article has since been removed from his site. You can read a snippet here https://boingboing.net/2009/11/08/how-the-ambient-soun.html Ramit Sethi shares even more details from Disney World https://growthlab.com/behind-scenes-disney-world-w-ramit-sethi • Speaking of Disney World, Max Krieger has a great take on why the 1994 version of Tomorrowland is the greatest https://twitter.com/maxkriegervg/status/951497989381656576 • Here's a quick little primer on Disney's copyright law practices from Adam Ruins Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiEXgpp37No • It's not just me that's not sure this is a great practice for cultural development! There are tons of angry people who are clearly rankled by Disney's copyright policies https://twitter.com/eevee/status/1064327801908555776?s=20 • The Lion King bears some unmistakable resemblances to Kimba the White Lion. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHps2iC8W3o • The copyright infringement case about murals in schools was actually for Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy and not Snow White. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/daycare-center-murals/ • In case you're curious, here's an article about Zara stealing indie pin designers' work https://jezebel.com/zara-appears-to-have-stolen-over-40-pin-and-patch-desig-1784271292
We absolutely adored Netflix & Black Mirror's new choose your own adventure movie experience "Bandersnatch." It was incredibly well constructed both technically and narratively, and had all the mind bending hallmarks of our favorite Black Mirror episodes. Leigh explains all about the technology they used to make it seamless. Soo Zee harangues our fellow filmmakers for failing to grasp why Bandersnatch is completely groundbreaking and has the potential to change everything about how we watch and tell complex stories. Both of us also throw out a few ideas for films we'd love to see adapted to the choose-your-own format. We make a pretty strong argument that you don't even need to have multiple endings to make it work. • If you play Bandersnatch a few times, it feels like maybe you're only missing out on a few scenes, but in reality there were several scenes filmed that still haven't been viewed by anyone yet. If you're interested, this feature in The Hollywood Reporter has more details about the Netflix Branch Manager tool and exactly why it's difficult to calculate how many permutations of Bandersnatch there are (spoilers!) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/black-mirror-bandersnatch-endings-explained-1171556 • The fictional games company from Bandersnatch, Tuckersoft, has a whole online world, including this thoroughly '80s ad for programmers (which links to Netflix's career page) https://tuckersoft.net/jobs/ and this fake history of Tuckersoft's library https://tuckersoft.net/ealing20541/history/ you get to via one of the easter eggs in the movie (game?). There's even a playable version of the video game Colin's character is developing you can download. • Leigh mentions a choice between something from the real world and something from the Black Mirror universe. The technical term for this is metafiction; Bandersnatch draws attention it's own construction. Because the story is self-aware — of both the facts that is it a story set in 1984 and also a movie being streamed on Netflix — it holds both of these truths at once, and puts the viewer in a liminal space. While watching we're both the viewer consuming the story, but we're also a character within the story that the other characters interact with. If you're into metafiction and liked Bandersnatch, I highly recommend you also check out the novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. • Soo Zee talked at the end about how interesting it was that Bandersnatch is on a streaming service, not a special games platform. It's a movie, right? But somehow also a game? It reminded me a lot about notpr0n, an online website from the early '00s that is also kind of a scavenger hunt/puzzle game. To date, less than 50 people have ever solved the entire thing. http://notpron.org/notpron/levelone.htm • There's a whole topic we had to cut for time about how Netflix knows what you chose. Most choices were pretty even splits, with a few key differences, like how fewer Brits were willing to toss tea over a computer than people in other parts of the world, or how 73% of us wanted Stefan to take the Tuckersoft job offer, even though another character straight up tells us it's the wrong choice. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/bandersnatch-stats-reveal-how-folks-have-chosen-their-own-adventures There's one choice in there that's controversial, made doubly so by the fact that Netflix don't just know what you chose, they actually record that information. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/02/224640/netflix-saved-black-mirror-bandersnatch-choices
In this episode we dive into the almighty algorithm and talk about how it's changed the way filmmakers tell stories. Soo Zee makes a good argument for why this is a bad thing, and Leigh reveals how much we pay attention our own YouTube analytics. We talk about Netflix's recommendation engine and why it's simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to streaming video. We also compare iTunes Music to Spotify and talk about what place human curation has in this world of AI, big data, and deep learning. • You can find that article we mentioned about how Maniac's story was influenced by Netflix streaming data here https://qz.com/quartzy/1372129/maniac-director-cary-fukunaga-explains-how-data-call-the-shots-at-netflix/ • If you want to know more about how House of Cards came to be, read this article from 2012 about how Netflix used big data when making House of Cards. Note the tone, where WIRED makes some stuff that's now completely commonplace seem utterly groundbreaking, like uploading all the episodes at once. https://www.wired.com/2012/11/netflix-data-gamble/ • Here's an older piece about how even after Neilsen switched from phone surveys and media diaries to data collection boxes, their ratings data was still deeply flawed https://www.vulture.com/2011/01/why-nielsen-ratings-are-inaccurate-and-why-theyll-stay-that-way.html • A great, simple-english explanation as to why pure randomness is impossible on a deterministic machine like a computer https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/can-a-computer-generate-a-truly-random-number/ • That story about having to fix the iTunes random shuffle feature was in a book all about random fallacies called The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/115699/the-drunkards-walk-by-leonard-mlodinow/9780307275172/ but if you don't want to read the book you can also read more about it from this explanation in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/why-random-shuffle-feels-far-from-random-10066621.html • Leigh's really interested in machine bias, and we talked for a good 30 minutes about why algorithms don't have to be the way the currently are. Unfortunately we had to cut that bit for time, but if you want a good, solid intro to the darker side of algorithms, check out this Note to Self podcast episode with Julia Angwin https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/propublica-facebook-algorithms-bias-privacy and also the Pro Public project "Breaking the Black Box" https://www.propublica.org/article/breaking-the-black-box-when-machines-learn-by-experimenting-on-us • Here's some more details about how never think curates videos https://about.neverthink.tv/faq/
This episode is about this year's YouTube Rewind video, the video YouTube produced to recap all the internet trends, memes, and (on YouTube at least) hits from 2018. They've been doing this every year since 2010. The reaction this year has been pretty cold online, but somehow we still have warm fuzzy feelings for YouTube. We explain how. Also Soo Zee touches on the difference between "big" and "big on YouTube," and explains why it might be okay for YouTube to suck at this. If you'd like to sign up to the newsletter we mentioned at the there, you can do it here: http://bit.ly/2bVmOez This is kind of an deep cut, and we recommend you refresh yourself on the Rewind videos before listening. If you don't know who the hell anyone in these videos is that's totally okay! You don't need to get all the references. Here some of the past episodes of Rewind we mentioned in the episode: • 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbJOTdZBX1g • 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsCjmMhFmw • 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GuOjXYl5ew • 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK9bwTlAvgo • 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKx2B8WCQuw • 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jtC8vjXw8
This episode is about why movies are starting to look more like television, and why television is becoming more like movies. Also, we reveal our favorite YouTubers and which predictions about the future of social media we agree with. We also talk a lot about the new Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald movie because it's basically impossible to talk about successful episodic storytelling or world building without mentioning the Wizarding World. • Haven't seen Twin Peaks? No worries. Here's an interesting Digg article about what order you should watch the series in. http://digg.com/2017/how-to-watch-all-of-twin-peaks • To clarify some of the things that made Lost's production more like a movie and less like TV: Lost was shot on 35mm film stock, the pilot episode alone cost over $10 million to make, and they negotiated the end date of the series 3 years in advance and then wrote the series knowing exactly how many episodes were left. Personally I feel the storytelling style itself, with the ensemble cast and how they played up the character storylines and downplayed the sci-fi for a whole season, contributes to the cinematic feel. • That awesome Edgar Wright clip was from his interview with Marc Fennel https://youtu.be/FiwthDKv8E8?t=292 • That awesome little snippet from Gary Vaynerchuck is something he talks about a lot. That particular bit was from his 2016 Inbound keynote, but you can also hear another version of it in some of his Daily Vee episodes, like this one https://youtu.be/gzOupHqh_dU?t=445 • Alice in Paris is made by another super creative duo and they're hands down our favorite YouTubers. Watch it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsavdcJzrxU&list=PLX98sAmndWt1gxu0UAQsfF-Ct7GaJY4RR
More music! This is the second of our episodes all about picking music and figuring out how to best use it in your videos. We cover three specific techniques and also talk about what you should look for in a song. Leigh hates fade outs, and in this episodes she explains why. Soo Zee also explains what the biggest filmmaker sin is and gives some advice on how to avoid it. Wow, this one turned out a lot more tactical than usual. Show notes: • Leigh implores you to rubber band your music in Episode 7 - Being a Video Editor pt 1 https://soundcloud.com/do-stuff/episode-07-being-a-video-editor-pt-1 • We also talk about cutting on action, but it's kind of hard to explain, so I recommend you look at the coffee scene from Baby Driver. We could do a whole episode just on this scene, especially the section where he actually orders the coffee and the dialogue and blocking is timed to the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBR3JKrgW74 • Basement Jaxx in particular does a great job of providing a ton of different phrases within their songs. One of the most obvious examples is probably "Everybody" https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/everybody/183030567?i=183030971 • Sign up for our newsletter! The next one will be more details about audio masking so sign up quick to make sure you get it https://forms.aweber.com/form/41/608569141.htm • That song we're obsessed with is called "Ultimatum" by Disclosure, featuring Fatoumata Diawara. It originally samples her voice from the song "Mariage / C'est Moi Ou C'est Lui" by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ultimatum-feat-fatoumata-diawara/1383668447?i=1383668457 Tell us if you liked this episode! You can leave us a review or rating on iTunes (we love that!) or we're over on twitter @soozee324 and @ltcooper, and over on Instagram @doevenmorestuff.
Music is one of those topics we seem to get endless questions and comments about, so finally we've created an episode all about it. It's too much to fit into one episode though, so we made two. This is the first, all about the artistic part of picking music: why it's important, where to find it, and how to know if you did it right. Then we introduce something Soo Zee finds hugely entertaining. It's called "The Music Game." Show notes: • Leigh mentions some of the playlists we've made. We thought it might be fun for you to hear some of what we like. Here's three different playlists. 1) Almost Summer Days playlist: http://apple.co/1XAWgDx 2) Almost Summer Nights playlist: http://apple.co/1NzdHlF 3)Goodbye, Summer playlist: http://apple.co/2bB1yzi • Our friend's favorite Do Stuff video is this one about Sparkly https://youtu.be/r7YyTJj3BOE • During "The Music Game" one of the songs reminds us of a nonsense informercial. When we talk about "How to make a plumbus" this is what we mean https://youtu.be/SWMGd_rzRdY • That "Transylvania Castle" sounding music was from this video about Turning 30 https://youtu.be/jhubRevTa10 • We talk a little bit about how Steven Spielberg used John William's Jaws theme, but there's so much more amazing detail about how they use it to cue the appearance of the shark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQKLJ2MuHvY We hope you liked this episode. If you did, let us know! We're over on twitter @soozee324 and @ltcooper, on Instagram @doevenmorestuff, or on iTunes. If you leave us a review it helps us bunches.
We are fashionably late to the Black Panther party. In this episode of film stuff we dig deep into culture, starting with Afrofuturism: what it is, why it's awesome, and what it has to do with Los Angeles's Koreatown. Show notes: • At the top of the episode we talk about Janelle Monáe and her genius Afrofuturist operas. Some more details about her work here https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17318242/janelle-monae-science-fiction-influences-afrofuturism • Also we talk about Kilmonger and his displacement in America. There's an awesome episode of Song Exploder that goes into depth about how the Kilmonger theme relates to Prince T'Challa's. Check it out here http://songexploder.net/black-panther • Just how big of a box office success was Black Panther? Read more about it in this great article by The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/the-game-changing-success-of-black-panther/553763/ • Soo Zee mentions a Korean dish called army base stew. There's a lot more to say on the subject, but you can get started with this article from the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/smart-mouth-the-korean-stew-that-mash-made/2013/01/31/5b484c52-6b0f-11e2-95b3-272d604a10a3_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9a4764d64359 Did you like this episode? Let us know! You can find us on twitter @soozee324 and @ltcooper, on Instagram @doevenmorestuff, or on iTunes. If you leave us a review it helps us a lot!
Today we deep dive into the relationship between art and commerce. We start with a discussion about why it looks like every YouTube video is the same. Next we talk about how it's not enough just to make art. You have to be a skilled promoter and business lady and community builder too. Lastly we talk about how hard it is to strike that balance between on one side, making art that's true to your vision and on the other, making concessions that make your art appealing to consumers, clients, and investors. Both of us agree you can't deny the commercial element of the art you make, but you also can't be enslaved by it. Before you get too down about the inevitability of compromising your vision and conforming to the almighty algorithm, we offer some words of hope. We went over a lot in this one. Here's some notes, thoughts, and further reading: • We mentioned that YouTube doesn't publish details about its algorithm. Most social networks don't. There's a few reasons why it can be problematic that companies are allowed to treat their algorithms as proprietary trade secrets. ProPublica roughly outlines a few of the big ones in their series "Breaking the Black Box." It focuses mostly on machine bias, but there's other reasons too related to privacy, censorship, anti-trust laws, and something called "the right to be forgotten." I'm sure we'll eventually do a whole episode all about algorithms. https://www.propublica.org/article/breaking-the-black-box-what-facebook-knows-about-you • Matt Gielen of Little Monster did a great in-depth analysis of the YouTube algorithm if you'd like to know more about how trends spread on the platform http://www.tubefilter.com/017/06/22/youtube-algorithm-research-cracking-the-code/ • That great article from The Atlantic that Leigh was talking about is called "The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur" and you can read it here https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-the-creative-entrepreneur/383497/ • Soo Zee brought up a great point about patronage that we weren't able to include: art has historically been a commercial venture. For centuries, artists only survived because wealthy nobility and clergymen commissioned their work. It's a romantic idea that an artist should focus on the art and leave the selling of their work to someone else, but in reality art has always been commercial. Patrons like Leo and Gertrude Stein who enabled the work of many modern day masters do exist, but it seems far more often benefactors were either wealthy institutions like the crown and the church, or generous (concerned?) family members like Vincent van Gogh's little brother Theo.
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