Most people who know me know that I am not one to be taken too seriously. As a matter of fact, whenever I post on my personal social media I am usually met with any level of sarcasm…and usually inappropriate. Working primarily with bars and restaurants inappropriate humor is the norm for better or worse. If you have ever worked in the industry you know even if you haven’t you probably still know. So last year when we redid the GCFL Productions lettering I also did a joke one for David Todd Films, just so I could have an alternative referencing the very crass DTF (if you don’t know what that stands for search it on urban dictionary but don’t tell my mom she doesn’t know that part of the joke).
But for me, the real purpose of the name was to poke fun at the people out there calling themselves filmmakers in the same aspirational way that someone with a DSLR and facebook page calls themselves a photographer. I’m all for setting your goals and working to achieve whatever you want to achieve at the highest level you can reach. But maybe I’m old school and listened to my football coaches that said if you score, act like you’ve been there before. Or my construction manager that said no matter what your job title is when you are meeting someone for the first time simply say I’m in construction. Or the modern philosopher Kendrick Lamar says “Be Humble”. I have a friend who went to school for film, has worked in the industry his entire career and as actually made a short Film and he doesn’t call himself a filmmaker.
So what do I do? I’m the video guy and I just wanna keep shooting, editing and sharing videos. Just like that construction manager used to say to me if you’re a ditch digger you’re only as good as your last hole. The last hole I “dug” was my April fools joke, visually it’s pretty straight forward just dramatic angles and movement. Shot at a high frame rate then slowed it down. It was a rainy gray day so we used it to our advantage. Added some coloring to enhance that tone. I shot it in an hour or so at lunch time (hence the reason I was hungry …) Mike “get in the van” Kettleberger helped with the shots.
The message was ridiculous, that name was silly and borderline offensive, and the whole project was confusing to most about which part was actually the joke. Some people think we actually have the van, that’s just photoshop. The great part is that people have really enjoyed the look and feel. Also, it is true that we have been producing content for 20 years now if you count the hand-drawn zine I did all those years ago. The short of it is that has lead to a couple quality leads for real work. Just goes to show even when you are goofing around.