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I've personally have had like met a lot of people in the crew and people that that we hire and work with through through Instagram
hey it's Walter here this a is Walter with the social Academy
where we're interviewing industry professionals content creators and influencers in the industry uh here in
the studio today we have Andrew uh one part of Prelude films Director of Photography I'm sure a master of all
other trades uh thanks for coming in Andrew yeah thank you for having me here uh let's just go ahead and jump right
into your origin story okay uh how'd you how did you get into a film uh you know
was it something you always had interest in or was it something kind of you naturally found your way on accident
yeah I always kind of say I got into film unintentionally and so my
background in high school was in photography I took a photo class with a really great teacher who we kind of
learned the process of making an image and seeing it from beginning to end through
um the actual like medium film so like shooting it developing it and printing
it the whole Red Room yeah yeah yeah it's like that was cool because it's I mean it was like magic and you get to like every part of the process you have
Hands-On on and so he encouraged me to pursue a career in the creative industry and so I
liked Photoshop at the time so I was like I'll do graphic design so I went to school for graphic design and did that
for two years after college and during that time one of my good friends and now one of my business partners Josh he went
back to graduate school for film and you needed somebody to shoot his his projects that he was writing and
directing and so he asked me to do it just because of the past kind of experience but also knowing
that it was going to be like I was new to the side of like cinematography so it was a little bit of baptism by fire
getting acquainted with the terminology the technicality of it sure
um but it was cool because it's just was able to work with a lot of good crew members who we still work with today and it was a really good learning experience
but the background of design really helped me bridge the gap just as far as talking about
the sensibilities of a project or how to approach something or how something you should feel yeah colors um so it was it
it was yeah I feel like it the design background influences it all too and so that was I also feel like you were you
knowing also the the craft of the old school film craft of developing film I'm
sure that gives you a whole nother appreciation for um I don't know like uh because like you
said there's some magic there yeah and I'm sure that plays into some of your work as well yeah and when I still shoot
a lot of film and develop black and white at home but what I like about it is it teaches you to see
um you're not just looking off a monitor you're seeing with your eyes and the whole you know when shooting film it's like you're figuring out where's your
exposure like where's your grade point and how's everything sitting within that so you can approach a scene and light it
hopefully more so with your eyes and with the monitor which saves time and you can move more efficiently and we
still shoot things on film too on motion film right right no and yeah talking about seeing things we got I'm sure
that's another skill and a practice that you're also still continuing practice because that is a very unique skill set
to just just from the eye you know without any help yeah there's a one time
on set we're shooting a project on film on 16 millimeter and there was a crew member that was like new to shooting on
film and so you have like reference monitors but it's not like you're looking at a digital monitor that you know colorful clear and all this it
was like a old school director's monitor that's black and white really grainy and
he was just like wow this looks really like YouTube's telling us afterwards he's like yeah I didn't I thought you guys didn't know what you were doing
yeah like it looked awful and then he was like didn't I realize you're like using this like light meter and doing
these different things and then I realized like you guys are magicians yeah like you're a wizard but I like the
idea it gives you a little bit of like creative control because you're kind of you and the guy for like really the only ones that like know so uh you know
you're going from graphic design uh not listen to your teacher and then finally end up you know going to
photography and kind of like realizing this is your fit how did uh the the birth of Prelude films come about yeah
so at the time um I was planning on actually moving New York to pursue just like grave Direction
and The Design side of things and um was kind of trying to make the plans
to do that but then kind of just had like a gut feeling and just uh um an instinct that I wasn't supposed to
do it and decided not to and then we were at The Old Ship and receiving here
in Fort Worth listening to um an artist's play and me and Josh were
there and just kind of talking and leaned over and it's like hey do you want to start a production company
um so it's kind of birch like that and then we have one of our other business partners Jim
um he's a good friend of ours who we Josh was going to him like seeking some advice of like how to do this he has an
Entre entrepreneurial background right and was like well how would you like having a third partner so it's which is
really helpful because yes neither me and Josh like want to do with finances yeah like the logistics
of running a business um and so yeah that's kind of the Inception
of it and we just started yeah I mean just started to start going
with equipment yeah it's a perfect trifecta like I said you kind of built there you got the it sounds like you're too you know you
and your partner with a collaborative vision and someone who can kind of run to actually make this work yeah because
I know as artists we don't you know sometimes don't even like to read emails you know so I want to help you with that
yeah um no it's fascinating so what about uh what was the first kind of project that
might have like really yeah took you off like going like okay we we got something here this is the thing uh what's funny
the first project we ever did was for Sunday and square yeah which the person that hired us for that we ended up
hiring this last year and so that's kind of funny um but
yes I mean that was the first project just like I yeah kind of highlighting well that's
a good Insight yeah yeah like so you're you're would you almost recommend like maybe for any kind of beginner uh
filmmakers whatever look around locally what needs who needs help and yeah who can use your talents is that something
you would advise yeah I think so and I think like one of the things that like we've found some success in I know a lot
of the other people have as well it's just spec work so it's the idea of like um you know oftentimes it's like you
can't win work if you don't have the work so like or if like you know like hey we want to shoot a car commercial
but you have like no car work like you're not very hard to do that so you can go and you know use the resource
that you have to shoot something that can convey a creative concept or story that then you can like you can pitch to
them or you can just put on your website in Rio is like this is spec work it's like that's we did that last year and
it's led into a client that will be for this year and oh wow fascinating and so
yeah it's just it's a good way to to do that and it could be a local business sure but I think it's just yeah
finding people who have a need for it kind of touching on that kind of go a little bit down a rabbit hole but like
when it comes to kind of doing spec work and collaborating and really it seems like you're honing your Niche what kind
of um what was some of the mindset there did you all have come more of a specific type of work you want to do because
obviously what you put out there is what you kind of get yeah um so in this specific case it's it's an
outdoor brand and so like me and Josh we we enjoy mountain biking skiing hiking a
lot of those things and so and a lot of the work that we had done previously kind of earlier on in Prelude was a lot
of branded documentary work for like going on like six day elephants and like shooting content that was kind of geared
in that outdoor side of things so we wanted to do that but do it on a higher level yeah yeah with a little bit more
intentionality than just like going out and shooting stuff and figuring out how to edit it and so I think that was the main oh and
then we also had a pretty um a photographer friend of ours knew the creative director and had done some
work so it was like a really he was able to connect us to the brand we got free product for it so it's like there was
already like a an in kind of established right um which was helpful um no yeah having that I think it seems
like uh the most important takeaway from a lot of is like kind of being involved in the industry and networking because
yeah as much as that's online the people in person kind of have probably much easier to connect with and establish
those kind of opportunities yeah absolutely so what has been one of your favorite projects you've been a part of
uh part of uh you know it could be on social media outside of social media um kind of maybe what stemmed from that
like has there been someone else like wow I can't believe we're actually now doing a shoot for this yeah uh there's
been a couple of um I mean we kind of do a lot of stuff we do as commercial work
um it's how we pay the bills and um Dallas Fort Worth has a lot of that and so
I think one of the favorite commercials that we've done I'm trying to think movie did one that
was we actually shot it in the studio but we had to illustrate like you know the passing of a day and so we did it
with like gradients changing and had some different um lighting effects moving the
background to resemble the sun in the moon um that was just a fun like lighting
creative Challenge and ended up being like their best performing ad that they've ever had as a company so like
that was also kind of like a little bit of you know a win yeah like a fun project and it did well so like that's
that's the best I saw that right in between yeah yeah no it's like you I'm sure it sounds like you got some really
cool creative freedom there yeah and then also like oh like this is doing well and hopefully people trust us more
with this kind of uh Vision so you know I know we're getting a little bit ahead of of you know we'll talk about your
film that y'all been working on but how did you get started on social media uh was it you know
whether it's promoting or um I don't share work like what was kind of the origin story there yeah I mean we
wasn't something you always been on or was it like maybe we need to get on here and start sharing stuff yeah uh I mean
kind of goes back to like whenever you started the company I think we just made like the main one we use is Instagram and I think just within our profession
like right now that's the one that's um you know it's a little bit of a portfolio in a sense right
um and so like I had I mean I used it in like 10th and 11th grade it was like sharing terrible pictures of my food and
like yeah then like is that you know went on to like share more photography and different stuff and
um so yeah whenever we started the company we realized like yeah we need to have some sort of presence
um almost like a I don't want to jump too far ahead in the questions but it's almost be able to go through like it
helps with like the vetting process in the sense of like okay like these people are real like they do real work right
um I'm sure like behind the scenes and stuff yeah really kind of showing you know it's not just like here's the work
yeah and you don't see like yeah there's also it's actually done yeah yeah yeah so we we kind of view it as yeah we
share a lot of behind the scenes final Stills um just like tone things that kind of like relate to like the Prelude brand
um and yeah so it's just we kind of just see it as like it's a it's a form of like vetting so it's like you know
we don't post a ton on it but we try and post enough on it that makes that's like yeah we're working we're doing stuff uh
you know we're being creative those kinds of things and uh so going back you said Instagram is your primary yeah a
platform you'll use for that and how has become a pretty integral part to your
business um I don't know if we've I mean we also do stuff on LinkedIn as well
um but I think with Instagram it's like oftentimes it's like we're not finding
like a brand to work with off of Instagram but it's like you're able to
um you know they reach out to a different means whether that's a referral or that's through some other piece of marketing that you might have
out there or they just see your work like they they check out your Instagram it's like you know they can see the
people kind of behind the company too and so it's I mean even with a lot of a lot of the people that we work with it's
like the creative directors and uh producers at the companies or agencies it's like you pick we become genuine
friends with them and it's like so you follow each other on social media and it's like it's I what I like to think of
it is is like you stay at the Forefront of people's minds yes um so whenever somebody's like hey I got a project
coming up like oh yeah like trailer they were just doing this shoot though like oh that'd be really cool to bring them out on this so it's just trying to stay
at the the front of people's minds but I don't know if we're getting you know I don't think it's like Brands coming and
looking at our Instagram and hiring us directly office sure it's just like one of the pieces of like there's you know a
series of like four five six steps for somebody like signing a contract like it's just one of those things in the
wheel um that also just you know uh you know because ultimately is going to come and spend a lot of
money on producing something it's like I mean it's the same methodology with like a website the The Branding your
treatments everything it's like you want it to look the quality of like what they're paying you for if that makes sense so that's no totally I think
that's a really good point it's it's it's portfolio it's you it should work
and also um I think it's good like you say keep it on top of people's minds and conversations as fast as social media is
moving yeah it's like you kind of um have to not stay relevant but just stay around yeah you know so now I'm
curious on you know you have it seems like everybody every creative profession has a different preferred platform is
the film I would say film uh Instagram is or or is is still mainly uh that
scene on Instagram or is it do you see it you also mentioned LinkedIn where you see a lot of that kind of uh
conversation happening yeah I would say like Instagram's a decent platform because it's like it's it's good to like
you know you can share images on it you know still is from the projects behind the scenes I mean ultimately like you're
constricted and like if you're viewing it in a 9x16 platform which like you know so many times you're shooting 16x9
so you're not like you're you know you're looking at something and it's very unintended format yes uh you you
think a narrative project like ultimately like you're hoping it's being seen on a theater at a festival or a TV
at home very much like Christopher Nolan how he's like you need a season's on the biggest screen but seeing it like you
know because you can't turn your phone horizontal and Instagram go horizontal it's like you're kind of hey it feels
sometimes like a little bit of a disservice to it um but I it's been a great I mean I've connected with a lot of
people and I've worked with a lot of people um because of Instagram just within
um local DFW and then it's the way to like you know you're able to keep up kind of that the one like a friendship
in a sense to see like the things are going in their life so you can like you know talk about it or it's like I share
a lot with um other things I find inspiration from right um like flipping on stories sharing
stories hey this is what I'm into kind of yeah I think that's also part of building your brand to a certain extent
you know yeah um but yeah so it's I think it's been really helpful in that way
um but as far as like a platform for consuming the content like it you're
you're definitely limited and does a little bit of a disservice to it but it is I probably right now I think it's
the best way to do I mean you have you know if you're at a networking event or you get off a job working with somebody
like hey like what's your Instagram and it's like you add them and then you can stay at the front of their mind tell us
about your recent film smoke which I'm sure it's currently in post uh and
probably wrapping up um but from what uh one tell us a little I guess brief about it and then also you know kind of go
into what uh to our understanding seemed like it was crowdfunded uh maybe touch on
that and yeah curious to know about that whole process yeah so we recently we wrapped production on a short film
called smoke in the end of October it was covered in by Josh gallus and
Lizette Barrera um who she's one of our producers and had like some story Consulting from the
Allen Fire Department chief and also uh lizette's partner Austin who's a firefighter in Dallas and so the
storyline is essentially it's a firefighter returning home from the worst shift of his career and having to
go into he gets home and it's his daughter's birthday party so like going into like getting ready entertaining
these different things yet he's um at the same time kind of trying to deal with what had just happened in the
shift prior um and so tense it's very intense so it's trying to speak to uh First
Responders and people yeah trying to speak to First
Responders who go through just mental health issues and PTSD through the
things that they witness yeah and so as far as from the funding aspect of it crowdfunding was a part of it we
partnered with betterhelp which is an online therapy platform right so they were they funded a good portion of it
well it's fine we had two we we made a budget and we're like oh we can make it for this and better help agree to pay
for that and we cut some commercial content out of the film for them um that they're using uh to be able to
run as ads and different things but then we revisit the budget a few months later like well actually we need uh I forget
we need like 15K more or something I forget how much it was but we need we need some more money so then we turn to
crowdfunding specifically through seed and Spark to then help raise the
additional funding that we needed um were you all reaching out to communities like other the other
firefighters or First Response vendors was out of that Community kind of tapped into for that kind of uh crowdfunding or
was other like a followers and and Friends within the film industry yeah I think it was a
mixture of both um there's definitely some other I mean
we had connections together like fire departments and stuff and stuff and so they were able to share through their channels but I think the majority of the
funding came through uh just people that we were already connected with previously um whether that's you know friends
um family who believed in the project and so it was kind of a two-headed um attack of like one through email and
just personal text of like hey like this is the project that I'm working on this is what it's about like we love you know
any any bit helps even just sharing it uh then also sharing on Instagram updates like hey here's the cast that
we've you know here's the casting that's coming in here's um you know sharing like the pre-production updates the countdowns to
shooting so trying to build some momentum around the film towards uh towards the funding of it and so yeah at
the end we're able to you have to be 80 you have to 80 of your target goal to be fully to get the actual friends to be
funded and so yeah we were able to do that and got the rest of the money that we needed for the film and so heck yeah
congratulations on that because that is really cool and and also I think that's what you're tackling on that subject
matter is very important uh I feel like those people were the the ones really doing the work sometimes you're like
well okay what am I stressing about that's intense I'm sure especially what you're talking about like the the trauma
they're going through in those those scenes um yeah uh that that's a lot to unpack there yeah so well going into
you're getting a funny book you kind of touched on that about uh sharing that progress behind the scenes so like do
you have a a social strategy in regards to promoting your film and
like have you seen successful matters that something you are planning on uh I think we're planning on it I mean
through leading up to it yeah we're sharing like kind of the pre-production updates uh during production a lot of us
like uh we kind of had a close friends list on Instagram for everybody that donated to the film and like people are
close to the project so we could share screen grabs like things we couldn't quite share with
um just anybody yet uh but then yeah we were also sharing just a lot of like behind the scenes content like anything
like we were like hey cast and crew like please you know take photos and share
and do all these different things so like we're trying to get some some buzz and just some yeah some words around
what's all happening so he was using that kind of Outreach to also help that conversation not just y'all you solely
uh you know doing all the work it seems like you're tapping into other resources as well yeah and that's like and I think
just in the nature of the film and the topic that it's tackling like it's uh right hits a wide audience that's like
timely as well and so um it's it's a message that's
easy to share yeah no totally easy one to get behind for sure it's like that and saving animals I think you know uh
what about like does How does it go about hosting uh these you know you're working films do
you know for this one maybe particularly in smoke or you go having it on a you know one page or does each project have
its own social media account you know how do you how are you all kind of like deviating that kind of um yeah spread of
awareness really yeah so we did we did two short films this year one was smoke the other one is Search and Destroy
which is written and directed by Alex Rosales um so both of those had two different
approaches smoke was just done through prelude's Instagram account um I think that was just uh
it just seemed like daunting to create another one right with that going and how do you like shift your audience to
to now look at that like I think you just it just made more sense to share from the to the audience that we already
had um but Search and Destroy Alex was the one actually like kind of spearheading the social on that end so he created a
separate uh Instagram page for search and so we would be like you know you can be invited as a collaborator so it'd
show up on our page um but that was kind of his decision in doing that and which that's how he's
done in the with his previous films too um I I think both have their pluses as with
most things and so yeah no I I feel like it's it's uh whatever feels natural and
I think yeah there's a time place like you know what this needs to be its own thing or like hey this is really our project yeah it's like we are going for
that so um well you know I think social media we all know how much has changed the
landscape of video as someone myself who's you know stole from video beta tapes all that kind of stuff and now to
it's all done on the phone has that affected y'all's production uh and how
y'all go about filming content even for clients yeah um you know or do you adapt more for
that platform or kind of still stick to maybe your roots to a certain extent uh I think both
um so there's there's obviously a technical side that you have to adapt to because it's
um oftentimes we're asked to shoot for three different aspect ratios 16x9 and
one by one and a nine by sixteen and so that can be kind of a challenge whenever you're you're already asked to like fit
a lot into a little amount of time so it's like you you end up in our
experience you you end up kind of compromising and some of the uh The Wider shots because you typically Center
frame more things you have to you know for the 9x16 cut your art and set
decoration has to to work in that and in the 16 by nine sure um and then ultimately you're extracting
from it but yet there's figuring out creative ways to do it like on shooting instead of just a 16x9 and
extracting a 9x6 and out of that you can shoot a an open gate so it's a more of like a like kind of like a
4x3 ask so you extract a 16 by nine but then on the 9x16 you get some more
vertical height right so figuring those things out I mean I heard somebody say the other day it's like we're all
goldfish now too like we all have a seven second attention to span um which is a little bit disheartening
um I mean just being honest yeah yeah like we're yeah but also it kind of gives a challenge too where it's like
I'm sure what y'all are sharing with that in your mind yeah I'm like is this the clip that we need to be sharing yeah
or for the work we do for clients like how can you hook them in the first like one to three seconds with whether that's
a story hook or a visual hook or or something and so I mean oftentimes we're
tasked with like hey you have 30 seconds or 15 seconds to tell this like micro story that has to fit these key
different uh metrics or whatever into it and so it
creates interesting new problems but what I like about is we try to like our background is from more The Narrative
side of things so it's like how can you still approach these projects with like well I need to have a story have like
you know uh like a meaning yeah um and
so that's that's been interesting to kind of figure out and I'm sure that
also is kind of like affected like the ideation in terms of even pre-production or scripting yeah is that something you
always taking consideration too like well we got this scene and you know in the back your head you
go should we rework this or like you know is that all kind of play into the ideation of it all yeah because it's you
know you can't and even just like how you approach shooting something it's like you know you can't have if one you
know if you're filming somebody walking from A to B it's like you know in a film or short film or whatever it's like you
can follow that whole process you can allow 10 seconds to happen one shot like now it's like you have to have something
like really cool and visual or cool camera movement if you're gonna have a shot that lasts 10 seconds or it's got
to be like bang bang bang like real quick and which which is yeah on one
hand it can sometimes feel limiting because it's like you don't it's hard to stray away from like what is the
quote-unquote like best practices of that um so it can yeah I can feel limiting because it's like well crap like we have
to come up with an idea that's visually cool in the first like three seconds yeah no I think it's a good I I feel
like it's always a good practice yeah where like in ways of like you didn't necessarily think before how to shorten
that narrative yeah or presented in a very condensed way yeah which will can
still work in its own form but that's like why I mean you shot two short films
both will be like in that 12 to 15 minute range um work on like working on Future Link
stuff too so it's like finding like what you know kind of the roots that like in the areas that you want to live in like
still doing that work on the back burner that kind of like feeds the soul in a different way yes that makes sense no no
totally agree that's yeah that's some very ways artist yeah you know slow down that's why I love reading so much
because it's like I can't digest this entire yes yeah really sit down and absorb it I I totally agree I think
that's something you know we're all kind of still trying to yeah remember uh to slow down any no so have you um
you know look at your website a lot of cool body work I see some clients there OnePlus has has any have y'all gotten um
any Partnerships or clients through social media has that some of this stuff bubble up from there was that something
more through networking you know how is how's your experience been on that
um so I mean social media plays into you know getting new clients because it's
it's a form that vetting process of being able to like see the work um see if they have a presence you see
the like okay like yeah they they're reputable these kinds of things but
um but yeah I mean a lot of it is it's it's people coming to the website to see to see the work to see
um I mean I yeah ultimately it's just like if like the work to speak for itself
yeah kind of like an extension of your website it's more like you're going back to your portfolio yeah understand like
hey you can go a website explore that or quick glance check us out on Instagram yeah kind of get the you know scroll
through and yeah get the idea yeah I mean I was talking about it before just like you you're able to build a
different relationship with the people who actually make decisions too um and so it's like you know you can go
follow the creative director for some brand you might want right um and you can you know slide into those
DMS or whatever you want to do exactly yeah yeah no I always always hope
so you like you like them they might not respond but you that is they might and it you
realize that's I think at the core of what social media was supposed to be you know most useful is assembling those um
it's it's crazy how much we can reach out and connect to those people that we you know you might have like maybe known
a PO Box number and write a letter back in the day yeah now it's like you said there's many directors who I never
thought I would be able to see more of because of social media yeah and it's very especially DPS
uh and and seeing their lens and like how they're yeah uh putting stuff on
social media I think that's fascinating especially some of the most you know award-winning cinematographers you're like okay what are you gonna post on
Instagram what kind of content are you going to show me what's funny is they all post like because they're all I mean
a lot of them are older so it's just like interesting pictures yeah it has nothing to do with film you're like
going like is this my dad
enough that's their daughter and some cool lighting Museum no no it's very fascinating but
but okay like um it kind of takes some of the pressure off of it yeah yeah uh well you know
this might be more a little more relevant uh to your past short films Search and Destroy
how has social me played in the distribution of your film or work you
know I always kind of talk about how yeah you're working locally but now with
the internet anything can be Global you know reach out to in in places that you never thought be able to reach yeah both
of those films are kind of ones and post-progression still being added the other one is about like I mean it's
basically done I think there has to be like one more pass of color on it but
um that one's like gearing up for the festival circuit so it's it will be once we kind of start once
it's like started submitting and getting accepted into places like it's a real good platform to kind of share like how
the film is doing um and so that's and you know being able to share you know we had like behind the
scenes photographer and videographers on all of it too so being like having a pool of content that we can like kind of
supplement you know like oh you know these festivals is this is coming up here like catch the screening here
um and yeah so I think like that's kind of how I think we'll use it for the most part sure and what about like with
streaming is that something that y'all also been maybe exploring like hey can we get this on a streaming platform is
that something you're interested in or have looked into um we have I think a lot of times
it's like you know having connections into that stuff previously is like usually the most helpful than that
um but then a lot of that is just garnered or like that attention for potentially get it on like oh like an
HBO or something the sort is you know it's from film festivals it's from okay
from those kinds of things and so um that's kind of that's also like a newer area to us too that we're trying
to grow into and especially as we move to doing more long-form work too um seeing like what those methods for
distribution are besides just like it's on the website and on you know yeah Instagram or it's getting pushed out you
know or if it's an ad going back to what you were talking about with uh networking out really outside of
social media um is that it seems like y'all
it seems like you see more Effectiveness outside of it or is it is it kind of a blend of both like how is that um
affected the way you build those kind of business or connections yeah I mean firm believer that's still like human human
face to face is always the best uh and but yeah so I think it's like you can
oftentimes it's like you know you might work with a crew member or somebody
um you know for a few days and then you won't see them again for another you know a couple months or a couple weeks
or what it might be and so it's a way to kind of bridge the gap sometimes because you're both working on other things you
might be out of town whatever so it's like it's a way to kind of help keep the relationship going
um I yeah it's interesting because it's like I've personally had like met a lot
of people and crew and people that that we hire and work with through through Instagram or it's like you start
following them and then you know it's like you start you know you post something like hey is anybody available
to first they see on these dates and then they'll respond like hey yeah I am that cool what's your eight or whatever
and yeah and so um it's also we use it to like hire crew sometimes if we you know for our first
recommendations are kind of our digital Rolodex is like all booked up
um but then yeah I think and it's also just a way like you can you can kind of gauge people's sensibilities and like
their their static and things through you know through Instagram or social media you know through the you know
seeing the things that they're inspired by through the previous work that they've done yeah so yeah so what would
be the best advice you would give to someone to kind of start making those conversations happening and it seems
like you have a really good you establish some really good connections and I'm just wondering how you know with some advice on that kind
of communication where does someone you know what do you recommend on that note uh well I think one of the unique things about being here in DFW is like there's
an openness um I think especially within film there's a lot of um sort of like gatekeeping that's done
within it and it's like oh you know it's kind of like a shielding of like what's actually happening and so I I found like
DFW to be really encouraging because it's there's there's an openness and so it's like just like ask you know people
people are willing to meet and to to ask and to talk to um and so it's just like I mean it could
be scary but at the end of the day like the worse some people say is like I'm sorry I'm busy or like no you know
sure yeah yeah um but I I think that's the I think one of the biggest things is
just guys and I think also like you know we you know as creatives like you see where
you want to go and you look up to the people that have like come before you and the work that they're making you're like oh I'll never make it to that level
or whatever you kind of play that game but I think one of the best advice is uh one of the best advice is that I've
heard um was just like growth that people that are around you um and it's like you know find the find
those people that you enjoy working with that you enjoy being friends with um that you can like go through a day of
hell with and come out on the other side and still like I'll do it again yeah yeah no that's
that's amazing advice I think that's a really good point yeah uh what about and also like you know it see it sounds like
kind of like the follow-up email is very important or just like even it's like hey y'all might not have an opportunity now but just a reminder I'm here you
know is that something you also uh recommend yeah I I think yeah I mean it's I mean even if it's depending like
what you're trying to do or like what what Fields you're trying to get in it's like if you're wanting to
you know to DP it's like a really great way to do that it's like you know you go up through assisting so you're already
building the relationships with producers and with um directors from being on set with
other DPS so it's like you you're working your way up kind of through the ranks you're learning the technical things so that way it's like I think one
of the biggest biggest things to know especially something that's in more of like on set like a leadership or manager
role is like what is your ask cost um so if you ask somebody to do
something like what does that cost them is it time money morale whatever it might be and so it's like you you kind
of can learn that as you like go up and see other people work but yeah I think you know I mean we follow up all the
time with people you know like even yeah wait and hear back on clients like feedback on something or recent off a
proposal and it's they're taking the time and sure I mean we're I don't I don't think there's a bad thing to be
like hey we're excited about your project do you have any anything you know any thoughts about rights or you
know I think it's you know you're able to lead with like enthusiasm and excitement about it then it's and that
can be contagious and a good thing no it's just keeping the door open yeah hey I'm here whenever okay
I'll be busy working no I I think it's a really good perspective and mindset to keep about it yeah
um well Andrea I appreciate you coming in we're pretty much at the end here but before we sign off I just want to see if
you have any uh last words or projects you want to plug in um I guess your social media handles I'm
gonna go ahead and you know feel free give a shout out to the audience of people watching uh whatever you know is
there anything you want to keep people uh attention on what's coming out yeah um I mean we have there's two short
films there coming out um sometime in 2023 because stay tuned but you can stay tuned if you follow us
on Instagram at preludefilms um my personal is just my name at Andrew
Zapp and our website's prayer through dot TV so you can see a lot of our body
of work there I mean I think yeah there's a lot of cool and exciting commercial work coming this year and
just different you know Brands when you kind of go more of like a storytelling Narrative Approach and some longer form
stuff so we're really excited about that but I think just the you know smoke and search and Destroyer I think two of the
things like really stay on the lookout for and that we're really excited about heck yeah no I'm excited seeing it again
looking through your feed and also your you know website of work it's uh quite
stunning really cool style and I think I'll bring a really unique Vision to uh DFW and as really the the industry as a
whole so I appreciate you coming today taking time to have this conversation uh and uh thanks for watching until next
time class dismissed perfect