What happens when a group of determined filmmakers set out to create a feature film amidst a global pandemic? Join us as we share our compelling conversation with the team behind 'Something of Value,' including the visionary director Daniel Paulino, the genius cinematographer Baldwin Angeles, and the talented actors Adiel Torres and Robel Luan. We discuss the resilience in overcoming the unique challenges faced due to the pandemic like adhering to strict protocols and wearing multiple hats, and the emotional story of Robel losing his supportive father during the process. Baldwin enlightens us on his approach to cinematography, particularly how to stretch boundaries even when faced with a tight budget.
Our chat also revolved around the inspiration behind 'Something of Value' and the intricate casting process. Daniel and Adiel walk us through their journey of self-doubt and courage - a testament to the power of believing in oneself. We dive into the complex character development and the arduous task of juggling work, school, and acting during a pandemic. Hear about the importance of location scouting, the use of color to set different tones in the film, and the indispensable role of a close-knit circle of friends in movie production.
As we wrap up the conversation, we explore the unique dynamics of on-set relationships and the significance of Latin culture in the film. We touch upon the natural Spanglish conversation that happens amongst Latinx people and the fun idea of creating a dictionary for this unique language blend. The upcoming screening of the film at the New York Latino Film Festival and the role of social media in promoting the film also hog the limelight. As a bonus, we end with pearls of wisdom for budding filmmakers and actors – emphasizing the importance of being intentional, confident, and socially connected in this industry. This conversation is a treasure chest of insights, inspiration, and a whole lot of courage. Don't miss it!
What happens when a group of determined filmmakers set out to create a feature film amidst a global pandemic? Join us as we share our compelling conversation with the team behind 'Something of Value,' including the visionary director Daniel Paulino, the genius cinematographer Baldwin Angeles, and the talented actors Adiel Torres and Robel Luan. We discuss the resilience in overcoming the unique challenges faced due to the pandemic like adhering to strict protocols and wearing multiple hats, and the emotional story of Robel losing his supportive father during the process. Baldwin enlightens us on his approach to cinematography, particularly how to stretch boundaries even when faced with a tight budget.
Our chat also revolved around the inspiration behind 'Something of Value' and the intricate casting process. Daniel and Adiel walk us through their journey of self-doubt and courage - a testament to the power of believing in oneself. We dive into the complex character development and the arduous task of juggling work, school, and acting during a pandemic. Hear about the importance of location scouting, the use of color to set different tones in the film, and the indispensable role of a close-knit circle of friends in movie production.
As we wrap up the conversation, we explore the unique dynamics of on-set relationships and the significance of Latin culture in the film. We touch upon the natural Spanglish conversation that happens amongst Latinx people and the fun idea of creating a dictionary for this unique language blend. The upcoming screening of the film at the New York Latino Film Festival and the role of social media in promoting the film also hog the limelight. As a bonus, we end with pearls of wisdom for budding filmmakers and actors – emphasizing the importance of being intentional, confident, and socially connected in this industry. This conversation is a treasure chest of insights, inspiration, and a whole lot of courage. Don't miss it!
Hey, no, welcome back to the innovators, then I am forming on this hashtag on Instagram. Make sure you follow us on YouTube at the innovators, then, and I'm here with Steve, all business and we got a very special guest today.
Speaker 2:We got you and yet, and our special cast from a special movie called something of value, right, yep, yep, you got something cool coming. Everybody, you got something hot. If you want to introduce the team, the crew that.
Speaker 3:First of all, thank you for having us here. My name is Daniel Paulino. As you said, I'm the director of the feature film something of value. I got Baldwin here, the cinematographer.
Speaker 4:My name is Baldwin Angeles. I'm the DP slash cinematographer.
Speaker 5:So my name is. My name is Adiel Torres. I play many rays inside of something of value. I'm the, I'm the kid who goes down the wrong path, but but yeah, that's, that's influenced by, by my next, my next guy.
Speaker 6:So my name is Robel Luan, I'm the guy playing a saulo and I'm the dark side, the guy that's influencing this kid to go down the wrong path. But, um, you know, bad guy, but still humanized as well, super privileged to be part of this project as well, man.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's awesome, oh yeah. So what's up, man? Well, I'm going through a long journey. Now you was able to put out a movie, but you know this was an experience with this movie because it started with the pandemic and you guys had a lot of hardships Going through our process. Yep, can you highlight that, like you know, from what started the movie to going through that process, I think the pandemic right.
Speaker 3:It was definitely, you know, really hard time, not you know, for the film, but you know to humanity as a whole. And we actually started filming two weeks prior to the whole shutdown and whatnot, mm-hmm, and I mean, we had a crew of like 22 people, something like that, working on set and when the whole pandemic hit, and then, you know, we reopened and whatnot. Six months later, we had all these regulations. We had to be vaccinated, you had to make sure you had something inside on set, making sure that we were following protocols and whatnot. To top it off, we had, you know, studios and locations that they were only allowing 10 people max and that's almost impossible for you to you know film, because Just my cast alone, we had like what?
Speaker 3:four, six at a time filming on the same day. So if you think about it, we got six actors on set and then you got the cinematographer, you got the sound guy, you got the director, you're the script supervisor. So now what happened was that we had to kind of like wear multiple hats in order for us to, you know, finish the product, and it was. It was very difficult. I mean, at the end could talk a little bit about his story, unfortunately, his.
Speaker 3:His dad was a really good supporter of this project and, you know, I guess he could talk more about it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so no, my, my dad was a huge supporter of the film. You know it was. It was. It was awesome. It was like for him to see the progress that we made throughout the throughout the film and stuff. We ended up losing him due to the COVID. I lost him 2021. Yeah, yeah, so it. That shows just how much, how much time has passed since we started this project, and that's another thing. You know, I started this project when I when I was 16. Wow, so now I'm 20, I'm a sophomore in college and this is you know. It just shows how long it takes, right, especially when you meet so many hurdles like the pandemic and stuff. You know what I mean. It shows, just like the perseverance of this entire team right, making sure that everything comes out. You know the way we want it up to our standards. It's a lot. You know a lot of people don't see what goes on behind the behind the camera.
Speaker 2:They just see the night Shawnee stuff. But you know, I know your dad is gonna be proud of what you guys did, because the trailer is amazing so far kudos, kudos to to ideas mom. She's still behind the scene, behind the scene.
Speaker 3:Good support throughout the whole film and you know what they went through and still you know to come out Even you know through the goods and bad that they were going through, they still show up and I appreciate your resilience in your crew, you know, and that team is like together, everyone accomplished more, right, you guys did that and you guys showed that, not only through the work, but also through the, the content.
Speaker 2:Yeah, put together that a lot of people from where we come from Can't build the. Put a movie like that together. They might think about it right you know executed, so yeah it's not you, guys, you know, really going through, you know and going through that Right, right. So what, what is by you, baldwin, in the cinematography stuff that you know your point of view, because you know, yeah, no, it was definitely a tough project from the get go cuz.
Speaker 4:Sometimes as DP we like to have like all the toys, all the tools and like this kind of film. The genre of this film Usually is not done with the budget that we had. So we were pushing, like pushing boundaries, like from the get go, like the level of budget that you need for an action. Um, ours is not action action but like it's more like thriller and sometimes, like you know, a few stunts will do that we didn't have. You know we couldn't do and you know that by itself it's like you know. You usually see that I'm like high budget films, so the genre was not easy. It was more so, to be honest, like the schedule sometimes, because Another thing is like we had like many actors sometimes films are like one or two actors and like we have like multiple.
Speaker 4:Yeah and so there were times where, like you know, my challenge is DP was we got to a location. For some reason we couldn't shoot there because maybe we're missing a guy that couldn't make it, because, like he had to cancel Last minute one of the, or like the person who said okay for the location, now it's nowhere to be found. It was like a whole. So there was a lot of like, like improvising going on and, like I personally Don't like to do a lot of improvising unless it's necessary, I like to have my plans set and do it because I put work into that in order to it. So so, when you like, like catch me up guard is like you got to, I do it because it needs to be done, but then it puts it.
Speaker 4:You know I have to press my creativity, like lighting and camera wise, to like Greater depth. You know I'm saying so. Those were one of the challenges about man. Like that's where, like me and Yaniel compliment each other. He's more of like you know, let's do a mentality and I'm more of the guy I want to have to. I want to like the a to z before I actually step out and do something you know I'm saying.
Speaker 4:So having him to like, like, push us to like those moments. What says what's really good? It's been years like that and like I think that's where we compliment each other, to be honest.
Speaker 2:She was resilient seeing you guys. What inspired the film?
Speaker 3:What inspired the film? Basically, the film is a reflection of my Personal life, to be honest, on my youth, my brothers, some of my friends. Of course we dramatize the film a bit more to give that edgy. You know what I'm saying. But I feel like our culture, like a lot of young teenagers, when we in schools most of the time not most of the time, but some of us we get to hang out with the wrong crew on the block.
Speaker 3:You're in this city. Like you know, we're from the Bronx, from. I'm from Harlem, so you already know how that goes of town, the Bronx, um, and oftentimes we don't listen to what our parents are telling us like, hey, like, make sure you're hanging out with the, with the right guys, with the you know the right crew and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's out though. So no, that one local got that so as a kid. But you learn. You learn from those mistakes. You got what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:So I feel like my job is a director, or my films. I would like to, you know, inspire this next generation like bring hope, guide him love, because at the end of the day, if we're not doing it like, who else is going to do it? So, so that's like one of my, my goals with with most of the films that I do. I'm also like not to make it a religious thing. I'm a believer in God and, if you know, all culture, like we're a club, we, we, our parents. So I'm being or chrytian or catholic, and something that you know, my mom, uh me put so as a as a believer. So I felt like as a teenager, at the tour from who I really was and to see that how many the character of a film is going through the same process, I feel like it's going to bring like some sort of, you know, switch to teenagers, not only from you know, they don't necessarily need to be Latinos, but whatever teenager watch the film In a city kid.
Speaker 2:There'll be impacted by, by the message, because nowadays, like how was what? No, I was going to ask him how was casting and that process when? But you could keep going, he, he could follow through with that. Um, my casting experience, yeah, interesting, he didn't even.
Speaker 6:he didn't even show up to the casting.
Speaker 3:Yes, take it from there, and then I'll go from there, go ahead.
Speaker 6:So how? How will the casting will reveal he didn't even show up to the casting.
Speaker 3:Go ahead. No, that's, that's it. No so so. I'm going to go ahead and show you guys yeah, no, so, so, so with robell, no, no, so, so wait so there was a script.
Speaker 2:though there was a script.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, so this is a thing like robell, uh, we have. I have a good relationship with robell and I knew the potential that he has. Like you know, he hasn't been like a major feature films and whatnot, but because of the relationship we have built, like, I know who he is and I know what he could bring to the table. So his character was the only one that we couldn't cast. We try to get a couple of people that I brought in to read the line, to read his lines, um, in front of the casting director and whatnot, and he's laughing, okay, and and so she was like no, none of the guys that you have brought in they make the cut. Make the cut because you know his character is one of the most important, important characters in the film because he's the antagonist and he's the one leading the whole gang. So, whoever you bring in, you got to make sure that they're going to deliver. So I'm like yo, I got this guy, but this guy sometimes he'll show up or he won't. So it's one of those two.
Speaker 3:So what we did? He didn't show up to the casting because, of course, uh, he was not on the radar at that time. We did the table read. I was like yo, robell, I need to, I need you to come to the table read. I'm sorry, we had actors flying in from Miami, from Mexico, and we we hadn't feeling that character. Yet he came in, he read the character, he read the lines Um, that day we read, we went through the whole Script, like 90 something pages, with all the actors and everybody, and the casting director was like yo, this is your solo and I know, but I would like for him to talk about a little bit of what you know he was going through and how he your experience on through the process.
Speaker 4:Yeah it's.
Speaker 6:It's amazing to see, because I wasn't aware of the prices Of everything that they were going through in the casting. I wasn't aware of any of that, but Uh, it's just a testament to how you want to surround yourself around people that A lot of times see what you don't see at the moment. You know what I mean. I was. You know that's life is like a heartbeat it goes up, it goes down and at that particular moment the heartbeat was you couldn't, you couldn't hear it.
Speaker 6:It was a hard time and it had a lot of self doubt and my personal life and what, what I was going through. And of course, that reflected on my career acting. And it's so crazy, man, because usually when they say that you don't, you come up with every any excuse not to go somewhere and you just show up. Some things happen. You know what I mean and I was literally coming up with excuses because I didn't believe I was going to be able to do it. I was had that self doubt that I was dealing with and Literally hours, a couple hours before going there, I was coming up with excuses. Oh, I'm just gonna say this I'm not feeling well, there's this and that, and I said you know what? I'm just gonna go, I'm just gonna show up. You know, just gonna show up and the rest is history. You know, my thing is just surround yourself around people that believe in you, even when you don't, and that's just gonna drive you To.
Speaker 2:You know your purpose, man, you know so you have somebody on your side that that saw that already.
Speaker 6:That's right.
Speaker 2:And he was like wait, I know you could do it, but I need to come through for me, though, right now.
Speaker 6:You know, I need to come right I need you to believe it, because that's the other thing if you don't believe it yourself. I have moments when I know, okay, I know I can deliver, and just like that, if your mindset is not right, you, if you don't believe it yourself, right, you won't be able to deliver that day, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Hardest thing is literally just Just show up the hardest thing is showing up.
Speaker 2:When they started. So how was it for you?
Speaker 5:Yo, I wanted to add on to this. All right, so now I can.
Speaker 2:I've been wanting to add to a whole bunch of yo come come to a casting, you, you're gonna be an actor, you're gonna be a Hollywood like.
Speaker 5:I'll explain this because because Jan, yeah, said something that's uh, that's like really important. He said all right, he said that they casted for saulo and they couldn't get it right. So there's a funny story, all right.
Speaker 3:So there was a miscommunication at first.
Speaker 5:Okay, there was a miscommunication. Somebody had told me okay, no, you like you're gonna audition for the movie, right, you're gonna do the car, you're gonna do the casting and your character, his name is saulo, he's the kid who does this. So they described my role Like they said oh, he's the kid who goes on, who goes down the wrong direction and stuff, and his name is saulo, right, okay, I was like where, all right, say less. So when they hand me the like the script for the for the casting, I'm over here reading saulo's lines. I'm like man, this ain't a kid. Like like yo, like he, like he's acting gangster. For what? Right, he's 16. Yeah, I'm like bro, like, come on now. Like this is this is like he was talking.
Speaker 5:I forget which scene it is. I really do, but it was like he was. You know he was. Oh, it was when he was telling um, telling one of the one of the one of the members to like go somewhere and do a, you know, do a little action. You know what I mean. Okay, so I'm over here acting it out. I go in there. Janiel is on, is on the table. I'm over there. I'm like, oh, my god, I'm reading the saulo lines right. And I finished the casting. I'm like man, this ain't me like. Like, this isn't who I like, this isn't who I auditioned for, right. And then janiel goes and he goes. Yo read mani's line. I was like when he walked.
Speaker 3:Oh, this is the character. I'm like yo. This, this kid is not gonna be not a muscle.
Speaker 5:Not a muscle For real. So he was like yo read mani's lines, I'm like, oh yo, this is the character, because they just told me the wrong name. So I auditioned for his role.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was hilarious, absolutely hilarious, and he memorized the whole line.
Speaker 3:No, and the beautiful thing about that story?
Speaker 1:is that you probably could also tell him his lines before. It was Right, right, right.
Speaker 3:No, and the beautiful thing about that story was that, although he got ready for a different role when he, we gave him the manual right there and then, and he just he went like, oh, give me two minutes. I mean when he read it and bam, bam, bam, he not get out of the ballpark, yeah, but he wanted it.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. So that shows a lot that was their supporting.
Speaker 1:So it's not the way I got to do this, you know. Of course.
Speaker 2:Right, that's what's up, man. This is no, no, no 100%, 100%. So what was the most biggest challenge for all of you guys beyond the COVID?
Speaker 3:To me the biggest challenge, to be honest, because of COVID. Getting everybody back on track like getting all the actors.
Speaker 1:So Was there like a?
Speaker 3:There was a lot of actors going through anxiety. Myself, as a director, I was going through a lot of anxiety for the first time in my life. I mean, if you think about it, when all this went down I felt like I was at the peak of my career and I felt like a God. To be honest, I felt like unstoppable. I was calling the shots. We were flying actors from Mexico, actors from Florida. You know you need a budget to be able to house these people and I felt unstoppable. So when the whole shutdown happened, I went through a six-month period of anxiety, depression, because I'm the kind of guy like I had to keep moving, so I was stuck in the house doing nothing. That messed me up mentally. So coming back out of that, I had to kind of like okay, how do I come back out of this? How, you know, we bring everybody back on track to the same mindset and it was not easy. You guys did.
Speaker 2:You guys started communicating on Zoom to like work, rehearsals and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:One of the best line producers I've worked with so far, and he was able to put everything together for us Shout out to Jill man yeah.
Speaker 3:Shout out to Jill from the Bronx. He's a Mexican dude, really really humble. You guys will meet him at the film festival. He was able to keep track with all the actors, keep track with the crew, because I lost contact with everybody and then you know there were some of the actors that they were in different projects now. So now we had to, okay, let's shoot this scene. We don't have this actors, but let's shoot this way so we don't see them, and then when we bring them back, we shoot this way. It was a whole like like bottom was saying like so we had to adjust and kind of like improvise. He's not a, he doesn't really like to go that round, but it's like yo, we got to do what we got to do.
Speaker 2:We had no other choice.
Speaker 3:So we had, all the schools were shut down. His character he's in school, right, so we couldn't shoot at any New York City school, any New York City school. So we had to kind of like, take all of their scenes out and figure out how to shoot it outdoors somehow and make it happen that way.
Speaker 2:Now you guys been through a journey, because that was my challenge as a director.
Speaker 3:I don't know if they want to share something.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with the Mighty Ducks. It's a scene that he has, like a quack call yeah, he calls everybody back. I was wondering if you had some sort of call.
Speaker 3:I remember that scene.
Speaker 1:It's a classic. It's a classic one.
Speaker 3:I remember that one.
Speaker 6:Yeah, one of the biggest struggles. Man, there is such a thing as momentum, you know, especially when the state of mind thing is a real thing, you know, and that's why one day, as an actor, your mindset is just right, you got your soundtrack for the character, everything is just on point, and the next day, if something sways you, man, it could just throw that whole thing off. So to talk about the momentum that I was getting with my character and getting the swing of things, you know, just to be aware, okay, I got this, I could do this, right and to. Once I got to know Saulo, the pandemic happens, right. So now we're dealing with just time and dealing with all the ugliness and everything that we have to deal with, you know, at home, right, and to come back, I was a different person, Saulo to me.
Speaker 6:I had to realize Saulo was a different person and my whole outlook on Saulo was different. And at first it was a little difficult because I'm like man, how am I going to approach this? But it ends up working out because there's a little bit of view in every character that you do. That was a struggle until I found my footing and I was like you know what, let me just you know, put myself in this and what I went through in the pandemic was a blessing in the skies and it helped give some depth to that character. At the end of the day, just a pivot did it, you know, and again, just a great supporting team and these guys made it easy Because, like you mentioned, like the character has something of you like.
Speaker 1:what qualities does the character? Yeah, sure man, and so you can answer that same question, yeah yeah.
Speaker 6:So you know, Saulo is not the nicest guy, right, he's the antagonist, but the thing is and it's funny because the way the character was written and God bless you because you gave me certain liberties to put myself into the character the character was like up here, Like you said, he was like this gangster guy, right, and my thing was like, if this guy's always here, like are people going to respect him? Because they already see him on the high angry all the time? And my thing was let me bring him down, Let me bring him to a place where a lot of us been that guy that usually hurt people. You kind of felt like that was your home at some point, Like that was your ally at one point and I was like, let me humanize him a little bit, Let me have him make these guys feel like they have a safe space with this guy. And but don't get it twisted, you know he's a product of his environment and he's a savage.
Speaker 1:And you know kind of soft when you spoke about your story. Have a very similar story that yours. And it was like you know, you found like a older brother kind of right in that was, that was the intent behind the way.
Speaker 6:What I was trying to bring to Saulo, humanize him a little bit, but is like I wanted people to feel like man. I kind of like this guy. He's kind of a big brother, but I don't feel comfortable liking him because that is wrong, because he's evil at the end of the day, you know.
Speaker 2:So you know to have people feeling uncomfortable is like that yeah, right, right.
Speaker 6:So that was, yeah, that was my experience with that character, you know.
Speaker 2:so I mean for me biggest struggle?
Speaker 5:I'll answer that one first. I was a sophomore in high school right.
Speaker 5:What was difficult was was honestly balancing working in the movie and going to school at the same time, because there was a lot of late nights, there was a lot of, you know, staying up at 12 in the morning, one in the morning two in the morning and then having to wake up at six Exactly, coming home and doing homework and then going back to school, finishing right out of school, sometimes leaving early to go to set, and also just the process of aging throughout the throughout the movie because, like like to piggyback off of what Robel said, you change, you know, and your outlook on things.
Speaker 5:It changes you as an actor as well, because there's certain qualities that you that you felt when you were younger could be brought out more than how you feel now. Right, things like that, Going off of like qualities that somebody sees inside of the character, like within yourself, is something like a really big challenge of Manny, for me personally, was Manny is a good kid at heart, right, like, his essence is a good kid. But he saw the life, right, he saw the life of you know, the gang and all that stuff and all the money that was being made and he wanted to be part of that. But when your essence is just good, it's you have to, you have to know how to transmit like you're out of place, but he's still like, his head wants it, but his body isn't that Right.
Speaker 5:So you have to in every single scene you have to make it seem like he's out of place, regardless of if he's in, like what his essence is, because his mind is somewhere else or where his mind is, but his essence is someone else.
Speaker 5:You know what I mean, yep. So he has to feel out of place in absolutely everything. When he's talking to his parents, when he's talking to his mom, he has to feel like I don't want to be here, right, right. When he's with Sallow, he has to feel like I don't want to be here, exactly, exactly. So that was the biggest challenge, at least personally, for me with Manny, because it's like he's just constantly lost. He doesn't have a sense of direction of what he wants to do. He's not too deep into the gang stuff, he's not too deep into school anymore, he's just like living it, you know, halfway through.
Speaker 2:And a lot of us go through that experience. We don't got no GPS.
Speaker 3:That's like what's your dream? 100%. What do you want to do when? You grow up, and that's that's, you know, that's what I, as the director, wanted to highlight. And if you see the cinematography of the film with his parents or with his family, we have a different move, like different tones, warmer tones, like wider tones and whatnot.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? Like with the filters, like with the color? Yes, the color, color wise.
Speaker 3:Color wise. So when he's with the gang or when he's outside, it highlights it's more bluish tones, it's more darker tones. So you'll see that in the film, like, it changes drastically depending on where he's at, and you know, we kind of like, wanted to show that like when he's home. You know we got more warmer, warmer colors and whatnot. But you know, as a like, how he was saying we go, we go through that, bro, we go through that in life. We don't have a GPS, like you were saying, and we had to figure it out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we don't get we don't get to ask the right question, Because sometimes even my mom, like I, was driving her home earlier and I was I was mad at her. You know what I'm saying. Because she, although she means well and she wanted you know for me and whatnot, or for all of us, like our parents, sometimes we don't want to hear it and we don't want to hear it, and that's what it is. We want to find out. We want to find out the hard way.
Speaker 2:Like I told you. So it was like yeah, so it's one of those, it's a process.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Baldwin's away. So how was like when y'all were scouting for sets, like how you was like you know what I'm saying, you had to get in the zone with cameras.
Speaker 1:And even, like the whole, wearing masks limits on the amount of people. Yeah, like you're scouting for sets.
Speaker 4:In the perfect world. You go scout, take the time for that, what we scouted like at a 10 location, probably scouted like two, three, and then you know, because of all the ups and downs and all the like, you know, it's just, I guess you know, being for us a really like learning experience. There's a lot of factors that going to make you a film. You know what I'm saying and my part is just the DP, his part as a director. But especially when you're not that experienced we were, we're super experienced like shooting, yeah, a whole lot of music videos. But with music videos we could jump up and down, do this and that and like it was just creativity. Oh, like at 100% with films you got to like you have to have a map. Yeah, you have to stick at the end of the day, the story is what matters and you have to do whatever you can to chew for the story.
Speaker 3:To pick it back on that. The beautiful thing is that we have built a relationship to the point where he trusts me to pick a location, even if he hasn't seen it Exactly, because of all the work that we have built and you know, put together Exactly yeah.
Speaker 4:And we had another friend of ours Same thing, we have the same religion with Broly. He also DP the film as well.
Speaker 4:Oh, yes, then we got two cinematographers, exactly, and he actually shot more of the film than I did Because I couldn't be there because of the schedule. I was a full-time tech in Adorama. By the way, anybody who wants to become a good DP, I would recommend Gutter Rental House. You get to put your hands on all the good cameras, you get to know how to use them, you get to play with the toys and that was a blessing for my life. So a lot of the time I had to schedule out like ask for permission at work and like I couldn't be there for a lot of the shoots, and that was kind of like ah, what is it to you, bro?
Speaker 3:Cause he will come out of work and do a eight 12 hour shift with us and then, and then go back to work. Having to go back to work.
Speaker 2:Well, that shows passion, like you know. And now y'all seen the results. Now Wait, it's four years, right.
Speaker 1:Four years the process Three years, three years Three years total yes, two years and a half, you just said like two weeks you probably started like in January or something 2020?.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we started 2020.
Speaker 1:And I noticed that you have some urban artists in the film. Can you like speak about that?
Speaker 3:So we got Nelly Nels from the Bronx, one of my brothers. We went to high school together, so we have a really good relationship of him and his brother. He got him on the opening scene and at the can I say it Right at the end and right at the end. It's important scene. The most important scene is there with Salo. We also got Chaka, also from the Bronx.
Speaker 1:We got he went to the same high school as me. That's why I pointed it out.
Speaker 3:Oh, where. Oh, that's what's up, that's what's up.
Speaker 2:Wait. So y'all want to see the school.
Speaker 1:Chaka and I went to Columbus.
Speaker 3:What school was that one? Columbus? Oh, nice, nice. Yeah, it's interesting, like, although New York City feels very big, it's we know each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah we all know each other. Small circle is a small circle, they're saying. Like we see each other somewhere. It's that.
Speaker 2:You go out creating content, you know. Then you know early. You know the born in the 80s, late 80s and 90s, right, a lot of the content creators right now are. You know, we're coming up and we're showing that we hit a creative, we hit a stay, and you know, and we're here on the innovators then, with this amazing cast Right.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm. Awesome, we got Brazil, brasil 21.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's Miami, it's.
Speaker 3:Miami now, but he's originally from New York. We went to the same high school as well.
Speaker 2:Got it.
Speaker 3:Also we got soundtracks. We got Natangel Perfeta from Dominican Republic, so what?
Speaker 6:else.
Speaker 3:We got Briga. We got Briga from New Jersey. We got a couple of guys. That's dope.
Speaker 2:So wait, so y'all have the release.
Speaker 3:We got Adiel. Adiel is a, you make music. Now he makes music, yo, he makes music. He has a soundtrack on the film as well.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's dope, you see, with another kid named Ambo. So you create an opportunity to put your community Bro, your friends and family, and I'm telling all of these people bro, you guys got to take advantage. Right.
Speaker 3:And once you get to where you guys got to, like make sure you guys call me and write me that. Check, right, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it takes one to know one, right. So that's how he was able to point you out, right. So that's a blessing, you know.
Speaker 1:And talk about like.
Speaker 2:Friday, Friday, is the screening right? When is it? Let's shout that out.
Speaker 3:So Friday 22nd, at 10.15, we are going to be on screening our Union Square, right, yeah, union Square at the Regal Theatre. Regal Theatre At the New York Latino Film Festival. Whoever wants to come out you know tickets online have sold out, thanks to God, because he's the one that's making everything possible for us Show up. They'll be selling tickets at the door and it's going to be yeah, we got to support our community and the content that we're creating.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, because we're always consuming what they put there for us, right, right. But who's creating our content and who's telling the point of view from our point of view, right, right, so that's why we had to put the innovators then. So we're like there's people who are doing dope stuff that nobody's highlighting that they're from our community. That's why we're here and that's why you guys are here, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having us here, bro.
Speaker 1:Thank you for coming, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:It's an honor to have you guys again, because you guys are our peers, you know, and, as you know, we're probably the same age, but we look up to you guys. You know what I'm saying, Because you guys took the time to say we have a project, we're working on it, we're going to build it and it's actually amazing, Like it's really.
Speaker 3:It's like You're like the morning is the most easy of our time for us. Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 2:Wrong from the hood. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:What you guys thought about the trailer. It's incredible. It's amazing, bro. It'll be.
Speaker 2:Like, most people are going to think that you guys didn't do that and you guys did. You know what I'm saying and that's amazing. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1:How was your relationships on set? Who was the best friends on set and who was the clown and all that?
Speaker 3:I don't know about you. I want to start with that. I guess the clown was definitely the guy that plays Lou, I think.
Speaker 1:Yankalo, Yankalo.
Speaker 3:Yankalo.
Speaker 5:Yo that guy is hilarious, bro. That guy is funny. Yo, he is hilarious, he's just naturally like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 5:That's the thing. It's not his character, it's just him.
Speaker 3:No, this is the thing. We specifically wrote that character, thinking of him.
Speaker 1:Got it.
Speaker 2:That's crazy so what he's playing.
Speaker 3:That's himself. That's funny.
Speaker 1:That's funny.
Speaker 3:That's the one that comes out on the trailer. I think it is, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yo, so wait, this is an international movie at the end of the day, right, because you guys are more bilingual speaking bilingual in the movie, right?
Speaker 3:Right right.
Speaker 2:In Spanish and English Go ahead.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to me that was very important Because I wanted to make sure to highlight us, our culture here in In.
Speaker 2:New York.
Speaker 3:In New York or even United States, how we do this whole Spanglish thing that you know. Within the same conversation we go from English to Spanish and we understand each other and whatnot. And it's interesting because the guy that did the print for the film, the DCP file, they're from here in New York, alan Keith, those are not CEC, alan Keith, right, some white folks and bro. The first thing that they told me was well, we never seen this this way.
Speaker 2:Level of work.
Speaker 3:Level of work, how you guys go from Spanish to English, like that. That's how we really talk.
Speaker 2:Right, that's how we talk.
Speaker 3:It's normal for us, it's normal for us.
Speaker 2:And the crazy thing is that we understand each other.
Speaker 3:But if you see other films like the way they try to do it they don't do it how we.
Speaker 2:But we speak like in New York, like if you Spanish, either Puerto Rican, dominican, you know Cuban, like we all get the lingo Like it's like its own language right here, you know, from Dijkman to.
Speaker 3:Bro, I think we're going to have to come up with our own dictionary or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, appreciate it. Now. But I think this movie is going to take some legs and it's going to, like you know, make an impact in our community.
Speaker 3:Thank you thank you.
Speaker 2:In the Latin community and in the world. You know itself. You know, because it has a message that everybody has experienced. But, at the same time, listen to the name something of value. Something of value, you know, that says it all and that's a quote in itself, Right? So, you know, y'all brought the value to the something, right? You know?
Speaker 3:That's a good way of putting it.
Speaker 1:I think you're going to say something right.
Speaker 5:I mean, nah, I was no, he's ready to act?
Speaker 2:bro, he's an actor now, bro, that's what we said. He's ready.
Speaker 5:I was thinking about like because I was, I was no, funny enough. Alright, I was just like right now. When you brought up the question of like, how was it on set? And stuff like you started to like you. You reawakened a bunch of memories, memories.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a whole bunch of things that happened that are, yeah, you know, when the cops show up on set. You could, you could talk on that.
Speaker 5:I love that you could talk on that Yo, there was a lot, so I wasn't there. I mean either, I know it was right after I had left that the cops showed up, so they were. They were filming was the scene of like the robberies.
Speaker 3:The robberies. So we got props, prop, guns and everything In the middle of the Bronx with, you know, guns. The East Bronx, yeah, the East Bronx.
Speaker 5:And then the cops just showed up.
Speaker 3:man, they thought it was for real. They were pointing on those azer and everything, yeah.
Speaker 4:It was like another action scene on top of the movie. Wow.
Speaker 6:That's crazy. It was crazy, that's so.
Speaker 1:You were there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was directed the film and I had to come out like it's a movie, it's a movie, so so. So this is what happened.
Speaker 6:So, there was already a couple shootings that were happening that day, so the cops were already like on alert.
Speaker 6:On alert, as someone called it, in. There's a bunch of guys I hate masks and guns Looking at the wind In front of this business, you know. So the cops show up and thank God for the women. I always say like thank God for the women in my life, but thank God truly for the women that were there, because the cops, hearing the women say it's a movie, it's a movie kind of led them put their guards down, because when they hear a bunch of guys, the guys with the mask on, they don't care what you were, which you got to say yeah, they're not hearing.
Speaker 6:So it was crazy. But you know the struggles of where you go through trying to make things happen. You know with the cars that you're dealt right but thank God everybody was okay yeah. Some people didn't.
Speaker 3:They were all Dominicans, by the way. What the cops, the cops.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We were shooting another scene and the same cops show up and they were like yo, why you guys don't tell us that you guys are bringing guns to the Bronx? It's like, bro, like we inside, Like we don't know.
Speaker 6:No, the other crazy thing too. I remember when the cop dude they had lasers and everything pointed yeah, one of the cops said thank God, like when we said it's a movie and they realized what it was. I thank God because it couldn't go on left.
Speaker 2:No, because they yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:He's a lot of.
Speaker 6:Of course they don't want to do that and with somebody like Giancarlo, you look at him, he looks like he's a threat, you know You'll see him. When you see the movie, Like, oh yeah, they see him. He's like, oh, watch out, you know. But man bless Things like that. You will forever, you know, keep worthy, you can make that up.
Speaker 2:you know, sure, it's crazy how, like you know, in film, when you make a movie, there's a whole like experience, right, like a living experience that the whole team, the set, the director, like it's a whole world that happens, and then the movie released and then the world sees the bare minimum.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the whole thing, you know. Yeah, all these other things happening behind the scenes, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. I'm so proud of you guys. It's amazing. It's amazing.
Speaker 6:There were a lot of moments when we could have just Stop as actors, like oh man, I'm not gonna go forward. People, production and the people that follow through I always say it man, you, you got to show up. There is a Reward for those people that show up and the people that finish finish line. Everyone that's here. I'm so proud of. Everyone that finished a project is not everyone that started and finish with us that same day, some people that were working on the set. They didn't finish the movie.
Speaker 6:Yeah that's okay, god bless you.
Speaker 2:But the ones that finished that project and had the vision that we had, there's a reward for that today there's that movie, something of value is, there's a value behind it, right, that you all gained by being part of the movie. You know I mean. So we appreciate you guys showing your artistic view and your point of view in this movie.
Speaker 1:You know I mean one thing can you guys speak about, like the one is gonna be released or the screening, and we're to find it on social media. So I think that, and also your social medias as well, so people can actually find that highlight all social media.
Speaker 3:Yes, so my social media is my name Yanielle and last name Yanielle Paulino. That's why a and I, el, pa, you, l, I and oh, and the word winner I see, and the Instagram's Robel underscore Luan.
Speaker 5:My Instagram is ideal, so AD I EL underscore Bendis ego.
Speaker 4:Mine says on my name Baldwin, bold and fall. Like f you well, so Baldwin. And then just at f you well, bold and fall.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, and I know the movie has an Instagram too. Is I go there?
Speaker 3:Yes, I go there with a D the valor.
Speaker 2:But the movie is called something about it. Yeah, they got it in Spanish and English, that's right.
Speaker 3:Originally we wanted everything in Spanish, but when you see, the whole film is more English in Spanish.
Speaker 2:So that's why we but I think it hits a bigger demographic. And then, right when the people in Spanish get it like it's just a bonus, like you know. I mean that's awesome.
Speaker 3:And then the screening is on the 22nd the screening is on 22nd with the film festival, with the film festival, new York Latino film festival at 10 15 pm. Kind of like red carpet mingling starts at 9 pm. So if you haven't bought your tickets, they have sold out online. Show up to the, to the, to the theater. They're gonna be selling the tickets at the door. I'm just make sure you get there early and whatnot, and we're just looking forward to have a beautiful time and you will and you have in it, man and you.
Speaker 2:These guys are on a press run right now. That's why they're here. So one more thing it's gonna be released a year from. This is gonna be so so in a year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so what I?
Speaker 2:read, is gonna be direct to the consumer, like online, like yes, yes, yes like from your own. So no.
Speaker 3:So what happens is that most of the films they go through a film festival, what we call like a film festival route.
Speaker 3:So it takes, like you know, six months a month Visiting, you know, different cities, different film festivals, you know, to bring awareness of the film and whatnot. So after that is up to, you know, whenever we decide that we want to put it out there, but it's coming out most of the theaters in the Dominican Republic Next year for sure they wanted, they wanted us to bring it out, release it this year, because, you know, next year they have the whole Persevency on cat a day going on and what I'm like yo this year is for us to enjoy the film and the film festival round. So let's not, let's leave everything in God's time and let things roll out the way they got to roll out. We're trying to see what platforms License the film right now as well, so we don't want to rush things. You know we took our time to film it, so now we want to take our time to make sure that we make the right.
Speaker 2:The marketing campaign. We could talk about something behind the scenes. We got some stuff we could throw your way. Another thing is before we go, I want to get some insight for the people who are watching, who might want to be a director. What's two, three things you would recommend for somebody who's watching right, want to be in the film and directing? Like where should they start? School, grab a camera.
Speaker 3:Like what so, so? So what I say right now your phone is the best place to start. Yes, yourself an iPhone or whatever phone you got it you could get your hands on is the best way to start as a director. I will start learning on frames so that you know how to talk to your cinematographer Okay, this is the frame that I want.
Speaker 3:When it comes to a close-up, when it comes to the rule of thirds, when it comes to, like, medium shots why shots? And when it comes to directing your actors, you don't necessarily need to go to school for that. There's a whole bunch of books that you could buy that's how I got introduced into the industry, honestly but there's courses that you could take, like five week courses and one out here in New York City and a whole bunch of place. So just do that and everything that you learn online I mean you got YouTube right now, right, but everything comes on, you know, by experimenting, like, shoot with your friends, like try to guide and direct them, see how it works, how it doesn't work. Put yourself in front of the camera, like, try feeling uncomfortable. That's what, what, that's what an actor goes through.
Speaker 3:Yeah you know, I'm saying cuz, when we once said, you got like 20, 20 heads in there, and it's just one actor and the camera just pointed at him.
Speaker 2:So so both and you say the same for cinematographer. Word a few things you will get to a Up-and-coming cinematographer who want to get into the industry. Yeah, I'll say, I'll say.
Speaker 3:Yeah, also, you don't. As a director, you don't necessarily need to know at all. That's why you bring us a cinematographer, that's why you bring an actor, that's why you bring a sound guy. But it's always good to know a little bit about everything. Like me, I'm a very experienced director that knows editing, that knows Cinematography, that knows you know how acting, you know works and whatnot, what it feels to be in front of the camera, what not, how the lighting is supposed to look. So that's you know when you're talking to all of your crew members. Or you know actors you have an idea of. Okay, I don't know how this is gonna work out, but this is kind of like where I want us to go and why not.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go to your class Yo people been asking me to be honest, what will you say for a cinematographer?
Speaker 4:I'll say the first thing is like, be intentional with your like learning. And that means like, if you really want to go the DP route, be intentional with that. I mean, like you have to know that that's what you want to do. There's a lot of like routes in the filmmaking industry and a lot of people that have no experience they think that they want to be a director. That's like usually a really A stereotypical thing that people think oh, you know, it's a director and they think the director does everything and it's like Just know that that's what you want to do. Like, first of all, like you know, if it's DP, what we do is mainly Lighting and camera. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So what we do is meeting like main like lighting director, director of photography or Cinematographer same thing, different names right, all that we do is pretty much lighting and camera work and pretty much we're the right-hand man of the director. He has the vision. We're here to execute that vision technically with selection of camera lenses, lighting, lighting, temperature, colors, you know, haze, whatever you want to like everything technically.
Speaker 4:I say be intentional, because a lot of dudes nowadays yes, you can learn a lot of stuff in YouTube and I cannot probably like select a few channels. It's just who you learn it from. You have to be pretty good at learning. I think that's one of my greatest like I could. I'm good at learning. I will not just like learn from the best, like if you watch the films okay, what films have gained cinematography awards? They watch that. You know I'm not gonna learn from a YouTube guy who has a few followers but then, like you know, are you good at lighting? I want to see your lighting. So just be selective with your learning. Shot deck comm is a really great place to go. You see it like a whole bunch of frames there. It's like a whole bunch of movies and like a whole bunch of frames that you can choose and see lighting. But it's not that hard. You can like. If you a zero, you can learn everything within a few months and try to put into practice.
Speaker 2:Whatever you learn, thank you. What will you guys say for? For an actor you know that's watching this.
Speaker 1:That's like hey, it's fine to be an actor.
Speaker 5:Yeah, not for actors, it's just put yourself out there, you know, like, just take that first step. It's always that. It's always that be confident who you are, because, at the end of the day, what acting comes down to is who you are as an individual. We're playing roles, but remember that we're the, we're the embodiment of those roles. You know we're the ones who are bringing the character out to light. So it's literally.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's literally just you know, knowing who you are, and putting yourself out there, taking the, taking the, the initiative to get up, you know, and put yourself in front of those, in front of the camera, stuff like that.
Speaker 2:That's the.
Speaker 5:That's the most important thing I could, I could say, and you know, just learning your craft. You know, listen to these actors who, again, like, like, like Baldwin said, you know who've proved them, prove themselves. You know, what they say in terms of learning a character, what techniques they use in order for, you know, in order to bring that character out, in order to bring those certain traits that they want to bring out, things like that, you know what is?
Speaker 2:give me one or two, three actors that if you look for reference.
Speaker 5:Man walking.
Speaker 1:Top.
Speaker 3:Man is that man is the way he embody on the Joker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was hearing stories about that. I was like wow.
Speaker 5:Because it goes to show how, like the drama into it, you can do subtle things that mean so much more right than just like Acting crazy and it's just like techniques that those people use. Who else I Mean I'm in love with I spoke to Robelle about this. I'm in love with people who played, who played the Joker in general, because that's such a that's such a.
Speaker 1:He's led. You know he's ledger. He was huge. It's in peace.
Speaker 5:Absolute unit. Absolute unit.
Speaker 2:And Gagnere for you. Give me two directors that you've looked at.
Speaker 3:As for insight, for inspiration, so to me, um, I like a lot, so I like also Alejandro, iran, iran Yuto, I think his name. He was the guy that direct the revenant which may, um, this guy win in a war. Um, what's his call? Leonardo, leonardo de Caprio, yeah right. So those are kind of like Two Spanish director that I I look forward to to see his work, um, seeing their work. I mean my top. I say this I don't necessarily have like favorite directors but I like I mean you the best.
Speaker 2:I like good movies.
Speaker 3:I like good movies from certain directors, so you got marines cross acy. One of my top films from him is um the shatter island.
Speaker 2:I see that.
Speaker 3:I see that film like.
Speaker 4:The point of view the cinema title the same day, the same day.
Speaker 3:I saw that film, like four times that same film, the for the same day. Um, what up, who else?
Speaker 2:Um, there's a whole, there's a whole bunch, there's a whole bunch, but I just wanted to make sure we can highlight that uh for the people. Um, how?
Speaker 1:about you.
Speaker 6:Bobo Does that get your point of view. So I wanted to say this. I wanted to add to what you were saying when you were speaking about. You know your whole process as an actor. I'm giving you the other side. I appreciate a man like this. A lot of people may not know, but he started off as an actor. Okay, a lot of people don't know this, right.
Speaker 2:We got the incest group at the innovators, then everybody.
Speaker 6:I have to put you out there.
Speaker 1:I have to put you out there.
Speaker 6:And this is the thing I say, that to say this, he understands the process of an actor, you know, and that's why he was. I guess that's why he was able to see my potential and what I could bring right.
Speaker 6:It doesn't take someone very long. You could just have a conversation with someone and be like he's the one right. But because he knows the process as an actor, that's why he was able to make it so easy for me. I can say, and I can, I'm sure, everyone else, the other actors he made it so easy and he made us dig a little deeper, man you know. So he made that process a lot easier and I've never met anybody so patient and graceful and as this man on set. Seriously, I, you know.
Speaker 2:Give him a round of applause, everybody.
Speaker 6:Let's go Seriously you know we were mentioning, you know, scorsese. I love the fact that he's getting his flowers while he's alive. I love this, this movement that's happening right now. We're not waiting until they've transitioned.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 6:And you know we got to give our greats their flowers while they're here, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:The great thing about that. You mentioned that of Martin Scorsese. When I saw the trailer that was the reference of director that I was like, wow, like that's like what I got. I'm like yo, and this guy's from like our neighborhood, this guy's Dominican, this guy's from our community Wow, we all need to support it, everybody. I need to support this movie. If you don't go to the show and go follow their social media, support their work, and a follow, a tag, a like is not going to hurt.
Speaker 3:A like, a comment, a share, they're everything. Helps A conversation.
Speaker 6:Just I love. I'm all about nostalgia man, just old school one-on-one interaction with people. I might not be everybody knows I'm not the best of social media but I live for human interaction and for people. To just tell someone else about this project and how this is, and this is the thing I think and not to like hog on the. You know, take over the mic. This is what we're here for. But, man, we've been holding on to this for so long, you know, and we'll be selfish to keep it to ourselves.
Speaker 2:Imagine that you guys fought four years with it like holding on to that Body knows and it's like the secret that only y'all know, bro. Yeah, that's crazy. It might be, you know right, everybody calling me DM and they're like yo.
Speaker 3:When is this coming out? When is this like yo guys? Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2:I'm still editing.
Speaker 3:No, because you know what it is when you got investors and both, like you, got to go with their pace. So it's not what I want to do, it's like, okay, what they want to do. You know, it's a totally different ball game, right, yeah?
Speaker 6:But what I wanted to just say about the film. I've noticed that the films that I'm passionate about that are crazy and that usually just get me are the ones that you put. They get you to put your guards down right. They a lot of Korean films.
Speaker 3:I'm a big fan of Korean films, japanese films, but if you notice in, for example, korean films, especially in the the the the seven samurai, I think they shot at a 19 something Japanese film, the.
Speaker 6:Japanese, 100%, you know. So the thing that these movies do is they get you to put your guards down. Okay, there's a horror film. They hit you with the corny horror stuff. You think you got them all figured out, little do you know. There's a twist at the end and you never saw that coming. You know, and with this film you look at the trailer. A lot of films you see the trailer and the best parts of the movie are in the trailer the trailer.
Speaker 6:Well, there you got a big surprise coming when you see this movie. Yeah, okay, yeah, because there's a lot more to it than just the trailer.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm excited Seriously.
Speaker 6:And this is what I got to say. I just like these Korean films and these directors. That that figured out okay, is like I'm going to give you what you think what it is. But then there's a twist. You think you're looking at a action film, but little do you know there's a story growing within that film and that's you know where you see something of value. You know something of value kind of contradicts this action film. But when you, the deeper you get into it, it just grips you, you know, and you put your guards down, thinking it's just an action film and there's so much more to it and I'm just super happy and privileged to be part of this and and look forward to working with all of you guys again soon.
Speaker 2:You guys did an amazing job and it's you know. It's time to you know. Let's give you our flowers now. You know what I mean and thank you guys for you know, putting your effort, you know, and putting it together and getting the job done.
Speaker 1:And being here. Thank you, guys for coming and thank you for having us. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:So, guys, we got another episode of the innovators. Then we got formerly known as hashtags. We got Yaniel but Paulino, right, yes, and we got the team, the cast, and thank you again. Don't forget to subscribe, follow, share, share, share, all that and all that. All right, it's a wrap, innovators done.