Oscar Alva - Jeff Wittek's Secret Weapon

Note: Golden Hour transcripts have been generated with automated software and may contain errors.  Timecode also isn't second accurate.

Golden Hour, Episode 143: Oscar Alva - Jeff Wittek's Secret Weapon

00:06.80
Oscar Alva
That Okay so I'll clap again.

00:08.52
davemaze
I all right? and then I'm going to clap perfect I am recording on my camera I'm recording on my computer like as a wave file and then Zoom is also recording.

00:12.27
Oscar Alva
Ah, you're recording on your camera too right.

00:23.70
davemaze
I'll edit this out so Oscar Alva is the shooter editor producer for Jeff's Barbershop as well as Jeff FM you're also essentially a streamy winner the documentary series that you made with Jeff Wittek won a streamy for. 21 s like a 6 part docu miniseries. Essentially I heard about you on the call and same podcast when Jeff was on their show and he kept talking about Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar's dad and I was like who's this Oscar guy and I looked you up on Instagram sent you an email and was like hey dude would you be down to be on the show because I have a lot to talk about I'm a huge fan of Jeff. Um, and I'm a huge fan of your work and especially your your comedy style and editing. So yeah, that's kind of your your setup there was that good Oscar do you like that.

01:05.31
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, that was great. yeah um yeah I do all of ah Jeff stuff pretty much.

01:11.89
davemaze
So let's just start with really where you began as a filmmaker and editor. How did you get started in the video making game and how did you come to meet Jeff.

01:22.71
Oscar Alva
I so I actually started taking pictures like back when Instagram first started like I got into photography and then I met a viner and he was making videos and I pretty much started helping him make videos his name is drojo. We were just shooting on iphone before and when fine died. Everybody jumped onto like Facebook and Instagram and started shooting with like better cameras and since I had my Dslr like it already shot video. So I started shooting with that.

01:49.85
davemaze
You yeah and you met Jeff through kind of the vine world right? The the apartment and.

01:54.76
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, the apartment building that all the viners lived at that's where me and Jeff Met and we like hit it off from the start and like we both kind of grew to understand each other's like comedy I think we've become a good team.

02:08.63
davemaze
It. It's kind of an infamous apartment. Some of the biggest youtubers in the world used to be viners when vine shut down. It was a really sad day by the way I loved vine. It was a great app but when vine shut down everybody who was making a full-time living off of the app had to figure out where to go next and. The obvious solution was Youtube. That's how we got Logan Paul Jake Paul David dobrick Liza Koshi Jeff and several others.

02:34.00
Oscar Alva
I Yeah, this was like a new wave of people that were coming over from Hillmo where they were just shooting on their phone to where like you have people like Casey neisat they're making pretty much a good documentary every day you know.

02:46.44
davemaze
And the thing that is so interesting to me is how almost intentionally kind of handheld and crappy things are shot on the high end of like pop culture Youtube and obviously vine tiktok and all that what are your thoughts on that kind of genre of storytelling. That seems to almost be intentionally crappy and.

03:05.64
Oscar Alva
And I think anybody could kind of pick up a camera and shoot like that and it's not complicated and it just makes it easy to kit record and like record the action rather than you have like an Alexa and you need like a crew to like set that up.

03:20.42
davemaze
I am I overthinking it as like a you know, traditional filmmaker background like I'm ah I'm overthinking the gear like a lot of these people don't really even think about the gear really right? They just kind of pick up the camera and just go perform.

03:33.63
Oscar Alva
It Yeah, it just makes it feel like a little more authentic rather than than like you're setting up like a whole like shoot and you got to get the shot perfect and you got to get the lighting perfect and everything perfect and then it's a little like two produced.

03:35.29
davemaze
Or is there some intentionality behind like I'm going to shoot it crappy on purpose.

03:51.32
davemaze
I yeah like I feel like you guys are pushing the limits of that where the quality is like right up there to Tv film. But then the editing style and the kind of rawness of it still has that kind of authentic Youtube vibe to it.

03:52.49
Oscar Alva
And I feel like it doesn't feel like as authentic and.

04:11.31
davemaze
So like how did you guys craft to that kind of tone if you will with Jeff's content and was it completely intentional or was it just a combination of trial and error and Jeff kind of just being himself like and then you trying to push the limits of cinematography and.

04:26.55
Oscar Alva
Yeah I think it's it's definitely like a little push and pull from both of us because he wants the videos to look crappy like he wants the videos to like like a little shitty and for me, it's like I want them to like sound good and be like really like watchable so we kind of just like meet in the middle and. Sometimes like we'll make mistakes on purpose to kind of like meet in the middle like that and um, like he gets what what he wants and then I kind of get like oh like I get to shoot with like these nice cameras and they just make my life easier but we were shooting with 80 ds before 2 and the only issue that we had with those was that it was at at the time it was only me that was recording and we recorded on like six seven cameras and they all have a time limit. So every 30 minutes I like I had to like stop like focusing on what I was filming and go and reset all the cameras that were on tripods. With like the black magics like now we could pretty much just leave them rolling. They'll roll for like 2 3 hours and I don't have to worry about like resetting them and getting the shot or like messing like the bit or anything like that like I don't have to worry about any of that.

05:33.39
davemaze
I mean obviously with those cameras They don't have good autofocus so you kind of have to make sure that that's locked down but you have shooters and stuff now right? so.

05:42.32
Oscar Alva
I yeah have a cow that helps me. Yeah yeah, we have we hired a cow. He pretty much is in he's the 1 filming now and I'm kind of more outside producing and orchestrating like the bits that are going to happen.

05:56.25
davemaze
That that's great. You have one extra guy but still like if you're comparing this to like traditional television. Ah, and the the numbers that Jeff is pulling on these videos I mean we're talking you know in the millions to 3000000 views often? um. Yeah, little drag race going on over there. That's just Jeff going down the street. Um, like that's Tv show level viewership ah with like 2 guys. You know it's nuts. It's crazy that you're able to pull it off with so few um people.

06:15.82
Oscar Alva
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:33.85
Oscar Alva
So yeah, the the gear definitely helps now because it it just makes ah the workflow a lot easier and it makes me like the gear that I've been able to pick out has helped me like not need more help than what I already have so.

06:34.73
davemaze
You know? yeah.

06:50.30
Oscar Alva
I was ready used to filming everything by myself. So now that I have like an extra hand it just like makes it a little bit easier So like he could go in and set up the cameras and I'll like focus on setting up the audio for everybody but um, yeah, like microphones now like they they could record onto themselves I don't have to like. Worry about like signal drops or anything like that and.

07:10.85
davemaze
That's great. What what microphones are you using to record all that. Okay.

07:13.56
Oscar Alva
So um, deity just dropped um some microphones that they transmit and they record into themselves like they are the deity connect I think ah bptrx So I'm using those.

07:20.67
davemaze
Yeah. Let let's let's rewind a little bit to the beginning of the barber shop show in particular. Um, again, if if there's anybody listening right now who hasn't seen Oscars work with Jeff please go to Jeff's channel just Jeff Whitockck you could search him or Jeff's barber shop. Um, that's the name of the show but his channel is just his name Jeff Whitock um some of those early episodes really stood out to me as just amazing new fresh content. We're going back? What like 3 years now was that three years ago when you started the barbershop show.

07:58.24
Oscar Alva
yeah yeah I think ah yeah I think 2018

08:03.60
davemaze
It was super fresh and and new at the time and it still is like I I still think it is and you guys have continued to like update yourselves and now you're basically into a whole new season with a mobile barbershop set but tell me about that first you know season of barbershop and. What you learned I mean your dad was involved as well. Your dad like literally built the set. Um, just walk me through like where was it located how how did it kind of come to be and what were some of your favorite experiences from that time of that first those first couple episodes.

08:38.30
Oscar Alva
And or the first like season of it was. We were doing vlogs and we were trying to come up kind of like ah of an original thing that like nobody had done and like we were watching like hot ones we were watching like we watched a lot of adults swim and um from watching hot ones. Like we we thought like oh wouldn't it be cool to kind of do something similar to this like ah complex does complex does a lot of like stuff like that like ah even like when like that shoe show where they go and like buy shoes I don't know if you've seen it.

09:09.83
davemaze
That shows awesome I watch that all the time. Yeah, and you're you're right like hot ones created a whole new format of interviewing while eating hot wings like that's hilarious.

09:19.50
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so so so we we kind of like that. Um that ah you're able to interview somebody. But it's not like a sit down interview like you go on Jimmy Kimmel or like Jimmy Fallon and you're sitting on a couch and then he's sitting behind the desk. So I think it add.

09:34.27
davemaze
Yeah I think it. Ah yeah.

09:37.74
Oscar Alva
It added like ah, a new element that not a lot of people had like done yet. So um, that's kind of how like the show got started and then as it went down the line we started getting like sponsorships and like money actually started coming in so that's when we were buying more cameras and more gear. And ah we built a set in his living room. So My dad came and put.

09:59.41
davemaze
Yeah, that's crazy that I can't believe that's his actual living room. It's so funny that that's what you guys did.

10:05.88
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so so it was in an apartment building so we couldn't like do much to it because in security security depositss on the line so we found like these ah these ah fake bricks that were kind of like like a thin like thin years and so it's not like the the fake bricks that you get like at home debo like there were like actual like bricks. But they're just like super thin so we stuck those on the wall and like made it look like an old school New York barbershop so it had like more of like that like a barbershop vibe and um, yeah, that's kind of how it it got started.

10:44.94
davemaze
I'm briefly interrupting this podcast to tell you about polar pro the producers of this podcast polar pro makes filters and all sorts of accessories for all your cameras drones and action cameras. Our newest product is for the dja mabi three and it's our amazing filter set with over 10 years of experience in the industry.

10:44.95
Oscar Alva
Um, briefly interrupting this podcast to tell you about polar pro the producers of this podcast polar pro makes filters and all sorts of accessories for all your cameras drones and action cameras. Our newest product is for the dja mavo 3 and it's our amazing filter set with over 10 years of experience in the industry. It's all lead.

11:02.44
davemaze
It's all led to this these filters are for the mavic 3 and the mavic 3 sinny featuring never-before seen offerings in the aerial space blue slash goldmorphic filters which gives you that amazing anamorphic look mist.

11:03.31
Oscar Alva
To this these filters are for the mavic 3 and the mavic 3 sinny featuring never-before seen offerings in the aerial space blue goldmorphic filters which gives you that amazing anamorphic look mist. Diffusion filters which softens the image in a very cinematic and film-like way and creative combos such as the missed v and d and Morphic V Andds which are variable neutral density filters that give you proper exposure while also including the anamorphic look and that really beautiful film-like diffused look head over to http://polarprofilters.com to learn more. This show is all about.

11:15.36
davemaze
Diffusion filters which softens the image in a very cinematic and film-like way and creative combos such as the missed v and d and Morphic V Andds which are variable neutral density filters that give you proper exposure while also including the anamorphic look and that really beautiful film-like diffused look head over to http://polarprofilters.com to learn more. This show is all about.

11:35.40
Oscar Alva
Learning the behind the scenes of the greatest creators on the internet we post every single week I'm Dave Mays and I'm super happy to have you here now. Let's get back to my conversation.

11:35.70
davemaze
Learning the behind the scenes of the greatest creators on the internet we post every single week I'm Dave Mays and I'm super happy to have you here now. Let's get back to my conversation I did the same thing like I converted a living room into a set because that was way more costefficient than rent out an office space but it.

11:49.56
Oscar Alva
Yeah, also also it was in the the apartment was in the heart of hollywood so it was kind of like in the middle of everything where it was convenient for any guests to come by because it was like it was like ah like a 15 minute drive from everyone.

12:05.75
davemaze
And it kind of got on my ra I'm a huge casey eistatt fan as most filmmaker youtubers are and he was on the show and like obviously a lot of big viners were on and stuff. But when Casey was on like I totally loved to that episode and watched it. And Casey talked about it on the impulsive Logan Paul Podcast and basically said like this is the best new thing on Youtube right now is what Jeff's doing he should have said what Jeff and Oscar are doing but he said Jeff but but it's true like.

12:38.84
Oscar Alva
Well me and Casey didn't know each other then. So now he gives you credit whenever whenever you see that we post anything he texts me like oh good job on that. So.

12:48.46
davemaze
Dude, that's awesome. The thing that really stood out to me and that I loved so much about the early episodes and ah, honestly, all all of your work is how freaking funny they are and how ah like I don't know if dark humor is the right word but it is. Like strangely eerie in some parts where he's coming out with a chain saw or like you know a razor blade and he's acting like he's going to cut their throat or whatever. But obviously it's a joke and then you know you have Jonah involved as well and sometimes there's props and costumes and actors that come in and. Do all sorts of things people get killed in a fake way you know and then they come back to life like it's so absurd the humor and it's unbelievably entertaining that.

13:34.67
Oscar Alva
So yeah, so the the haircut's kind of like the thing that keeps people watching till the end because they want to see like kind of how it ends like how how the haircut turns out and.

13:44.29
davemaze
Was that intentional or was that kind of a happy accident because like that could be a total Genius move on on your part to like think of that like this is what's going to hold. People's retention to the end of the video.

13:55.63
Oscar Alva
So yeah, that that was kind of something that we thought of like early on. Um, that's why we started doing kind of like a montage at the end of like just like the haircut so you could see kind of like the the progress because we cut through through like 2 hours of footage and. Cramm it down into like the best like 10 minutes so you don't actually really see much of the haircut like happen. So um, the end is kind of just like oh like that. That's what it end uplinging like but but yeah, we just like film a lot and um, but you just like make it work and edit sometimes. Bits don't work or like we don't get reactions that we want and ah we have to like scrap them and um, yeah, like we just we just spend days editing like each video like that's what we spent and we spend maybe like forty sixty hours like editing just like 1 episode.

14:37.26
davemaze
I.

14:48.57
davemaze
So wow but so that's like more than a work week on 1 video roughly? yeah.

14:55.61
Oscar Alva
Yeah, and like we'll we'll pass it pass it on back and forth between us 2 Um, like now we have k that helps kind of cut down like the fat like the stuff that like we're not going to use but ah for the most part ah being there and filming it.

15:05.52
davemaze
Um.

15:14.79
Oscar Alva
Definitely helps ah helps me remember like oh like we said this thing over here and then I'm able to like look it up after if ah it gets cut out like I could always like bring stuff back in because um, like I use this program called descript to kind of like scans like the audio Files and ah. Ah, gives you like a time code of um, where something was sad because you could search it up by typing yeah Premiere has a built in now. But ah, Premiere has something similar built in and it just makes it more convenient that I don't have to leave the app but um.

15:37.64
davemaze
You you don't use it anymore right? because Premieer has it built-in.

15:47.77
davemaze
You Yeah, but you're basically searching the transcript of all the words that are said so and since you were there and you actually shot it. You kind of can remember what you shot that means you're are you essentially editing live so you shoot say on a.

15:51.45
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so.

16:05.54
davemaze
What on a Friday or whatever and then like you just work on that one video all week and then you upload and then once once that's uploaded. You go to the next one or do you bank them.

16:14.31
Oscar Alva
Ah, no, yeah, we we should um, like as soon as we shoot we start editing and post it. But now we shoot that and then we have a podcast too. So um, yeah.

16:24.26
davemaze
Yeah, um, again last time I we talked I was like so you do like what like 2 podcasts like you've got a patreon as well that we can talk about Jeff edits as well. Which I think is fascinating that he actually still is kind of in the in the edit you don't you know. You don't really hear that often that the the creator especially at his level is still like involved in the editing process. But.

16:47.24
Oscar Alva
I ah for a barbershop we'll cut it down to maybe like 15 minutes just because he doesn't feel happy or content with it if he didn't like put like his like ah leg of the work into it. Yeah, so we just cut it down to around then and then that's when we pass it back and forth. And then we'll cut out like little slivers of things just like make it like faster and um, yeah, just I keep the pace of it like high. Yeah.

17:11.88
davemaze
Do you ever get? Um I'm speaking as myself like sometimes I can take things a little personal like say you spend a lot of time on a joke and then Jeff cuts it out like does it hurt when he does that or do you just see it as like a job and you don't you just remove that pain and.

17:27.43
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, not no, not anymore like I used to be before like ah so so before I would I would add more like after effects stuff and like do like more jokes I can after effects but they're kind of like not his style of jokes so like ah would we'd end up scrapbing them. So now I kind of like time manage Better. So like if I have time to do like those extra bits like I do or like like um I'll just add stuff like I'll just go into after effects and add stuff if it like truly just adds to. Like what he's saying or like a joke that he's going to keep on and.

18:04.37
davemaze
What what are some examples of after effects jokes because I'm trying to imagine like what? what do you mean by that like are are you doing crazy like transitions. Are you adding 3 d objects like what are some of the common after effects gags that you're doing so.

18:17.18
Oscar Alva
And no, it's more like ah more like masking or like green screening stuff like ah yeah, we we have we painted like the door on the original site green so that we could like green screen and green screen like.

18:31.42
davemaze
Yeah, yeah.

18:35.35
Oscar Alva
Videos and pictures onto it without having to cut away. But um, there's also like a lot of masking and a lot of like um like um just tracking stuff like being able to track stuff in after effects and then adding like objects into it. Um, I think that on the frances Andgano episode. We. We turned them green or or like put like a green filter when we were comparing him to like the hulk or something like that because ah, he he's like the heavyweight champion of the world and he's like a really big dude. He's like scary. So ah, yeah, like so something like that like.

18:59.85
davemaze
So ah, yeah, yes.

19:11.40
Oscar Alva
Like ah I'm only out it adding things that like amplify the video now rather than going into like whole little bits that I make that don't make sense with the rest of it.

19:17.82
davemaze
So the first season happens we're talking you know that's about a full year maybe 2 years of stuff. Um, some of my favorite episodes that stand out. Of course you know the casey knights that episode um the ah homeless man. Episodes I think you did 2 or 3 of those that video actually got a ton of views. Um, and was really like powerful and.

19:39.31
Oscar Alva
Yeah, that that video is kind of like what what like made our channel take off like we we didn't expect anything like that like we were kind of just um, making well we we would make videos like in our in the back alley of like dress apartment and this homeless guy would always like hang out there.

19:54.22
davemaze
Ah.

19:58.90
Oscar Alva
And every time every time that we were filming. He would always come up and kind of like want to be in the videos or like he was like funny who would make jokes or like he would come. He would come up and like want to help was direct and it was like really funny to us so it was ah it was around the holidays I think it was around like Thanksgiving and ah i.

20:12.76
davemaze
I yep yeah I remember seeing it around Christmas time when I saw it was just perfect timing. Yeah.

20:18.82
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so like we we wanted to do something nice for him and like give him give him like ah, a haircut and like clean him up and um, like kind of just like treat him like a friend because he was like he was always like around and like we always talked with him so it wasn't It wasn't like a random guy that.

20:33.57
davemaze
It's awesome gotcha.

20:36.12
Oscar Alva
Was just like on the street that we would like go up and film and um, yeah, we we clean them up. We shot a video with him. We gave him some money and then um, yeah, we posted that video and and that video fleww up and that's kind of what like jumpstarted the channel and then.

20:43.90
davemaze
It. It's awesome.

20:53.77
Oscar Alva
Right? after that we met David and Jeff started being David's videos and then that's when like the channel really took off and.

20:57.83
davemaze
And 1 thing that really stands out to me from a production standpoint is how many freaking cameras you have on the show. How many cameras are you running on your kind of normal. Ah barbershop show.

21:13.56
Oscar Alva
Um, around seminary and.

21:17.36
davemaze
And we're talking about 2 hours of footage with 8 cameras. That's got to be a freaking dog to edit.

21:21.10
Oscar Alva
So yeah, each video is ah a little bit over a terabyte well before we were filming in four k and we realized that that just like eats up like storaged. So we we brought it down to like ten eighty but it started with multiple cameras because.

21:40.71
davemaze
I Don't want to.

21:41.50
Oscar Alva
It was just me filming so I didn't want to miss the shot and since it was just me like I'm able to pan around and kind of follow the action like in the office like like they're like all handheld and like if somebody says something over here like they pan the camera So I'm so able to do that. But if something happens where.

21:51.33
davemaze
So.

22:01.40
Oscar Alva
Like I don't know where it's like and I exactly like come from like if we're doing a bit and I don't know exactly like like where something's going to land or or something like that like I still wanted it to have coverage and um, yeah, so we pretty much put a camera in every single angle that way we're able to like. Yeah, like the person's reaction if like somebody's like blocking a camera. We have a different camera to like cut to and um, yeah, that's that's how it how we got there and now we we just got used to it so and now that we're in a smaller in the smaller space. Um, like.

22:31.12
davemaze
Yeah.

22:35.21
Oscar Alva
Cameras get blocked like all the time. So now we have just the coverage to make sure that we get like what's going on and.

22:38.83
davemaze
I say let's go and skip forward to now. Um, you know the first season was in the apartment. Um, obviously there there's something that we're skipping over that I I will get back to obviously the docuseries and the injury and all that. But right now while we're on the topic of cameras. You're in a and an airstream and you've completely rigged it out your dad again built the set you've done how many episodes now like 4 5 episodes and in the new set. Okay, awesome. Yeah.

23:06.95
Oscar Alva
So no I think we're maybe like 8 around 8 yeah, but ah, the the new set was ah we bought this this airstream and ah we gutted it like we took all those stuff that makes it like livable out. So. Was like a bathroom and like everything in there before and like a shower so we take all that out and my dad pretty much like built like the cabinets a custom to like fit um to fit like all the gear that we need to take and also like ah little gags and gadgets that.

23:43.90
davemaze
And there's ah, there's like a air pressure thing where Jeff Pushes a button and the guest gets blasted with like just intense air. It's hilarious.

23:45.26
Oscar Alva
Um, like that.

23:54.14
Oscar Alva
I yeah, it's like we could we could turn it into a cryo chamber like um, it's ah that Eric Cannon is like what they use at nightclubs to it's the same thing to blast like the the nitrogen that cools the room out like the smoke. Basically yeah so.

24:03.30
davemaze
The night. Okay, yeah.

24:10.13
davemaze
Okay, yeah.

24:13.72
Oscar Alva
So We wanted that in there and then like pretty much we could turn the inside of the Airstream. So a nightclub at like any moment like we have like late lasers and like um like fog machines and all that stuff like the gas like that air cannon like whether you know it's there or not, you don't know when it's going to be pushed and it's like really loud. So like you're going To. You're going to jump like when it when when it's on and where you but also like stuff it with a confetti or like anything in there too. So the whole like ah roof is a giant skylight now. So we get like nice soft natural light but we also have like lights built into it for when we shoot at night.

24:33.39
davemaze
And he would also like help it with like.

24:51.77
Oscar Alva
And um, ah the walls have ah power outlets like straight for the camera like 12 volt like little little outlets. So like all the cameras are mounted on to the walls and like ah they say powered. Yeah.

25:05.18
davemaze
It's perfect. It little black magic 12 volt right in there are you shooting on the 6 k or the Four K Black Magics what lenses are you just using native microphone thirds lenses on it.

25:12.14
Oscar Alva
So the 4 k.

25:18.40
Oscar Alva
So ah, yeah, we're using um panasonic 12 to 60 or something that 12 to 60 I think yeah yeah, yeah, so um.

25:25.18
davemaze
So oh okay, yeah, the the one that the likeo one that's like a 2 8 to 4 Yeah yeah.

25:35.45
Oscar Alva
Yeah, they're pretty wide so they kind of like make the trailer look a little bigger than what it actually feels like being in there which also adds to like the discomfort of like making the guest like feel uncomfortable. So um.

25:48.18
davemaze
And and again you got them all synced up with time code with those audio recorders which is perfect so you don't have to worry about like all the syncing then you're other you are using a c 200 as well, right? as your main like shoulder cam yeah have you? ah.

25:59.38
Oscar Alva
So yeah, so on that one I have a tentacle sync because it doesn't have the the timecode built into it but I.

26:07.26
davemaze
Ah, yeah, that stupid c 200 doesn't have time code. Oh my gosh you're right? Basically what you guys have done is what is the most ideal thing for any Youtuber and that is to essentially walk into your set turn on the light and just go the last thing you want to do is like set up a light stand. Make sure your tripods are all lined up in the right angle make sure your batteries are charged like you're literally plugging in the camera so you never have to even think about batteries. Um, all these things are is this just through doing hundreds of videos now and just realizing that you need to basically optimize everything to a t or is this.

26:32.74
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah.

26:44.82
davemaze
Part of your personality is that a Jeff thing is.

26:45.98
Oscar Alva
Yeah I think that's kind of ah like my department like Jeff doesn't care if we film like on a potato like I said like ah for him, he just he just wants like the video's done. But for me I try to figure out like what's like the fastest and like best way that I could do this.

26:55.14
davemaze
Like that. Yeah.

27:05.68
Oscar Alva
And um, yeah, like it pretty much is like look at gear like anything new that comes out like I see like what like ah if something's like beneficial for me to like have like I'm going to get it like whether it's like the microphones that are recording into themselves or like whether it's Sd cards that are. Like really fast or card readers that are really fast. Um, yeah, like down to that like it's it's all about like how fast I could get like all the footage into the computer and get working on it and.

27:32.76
davemaze
And yeah, this whole so topic of the airstream is just one production set. You have a whole nother set which is the Jefffm set which is the podcast is that a completely separate. Like you have other you have completely other cameras for that or do you just pop some of the cameras off of the trailer and just and bring them in but you're still using the blackmags and stuff for that as well. Yeah.

27:57.13
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so I still have to why bring the cameras in because anybody could break the back window of the trailer and take the cameras. So yeah, yeah, so so yeah, we bring them upstairs and then we just like pop them in so we have them labeled and.

28:02.31
davemaze
Yeah, that's that's true I Guess he can't I guess you don't want to leave them in the in the actual trailer.

28:16.42
Oscar Alva
Um, the blackmagics they they could say presets so since a podcast is always going to look the same. It's a controlled environment. We have like presets for like the settings of each camera and each one's labeled to know like where where it goes and um yeah, they all connect to.

28:31.92
davemaze
That's awesome and then you're and you's in the atim mini pro or whatever extreme for the for the control of that right? How have you liked that setup.

28:36.52
Oscar Alva
Yeah, extreme bro. Yeah yeah, it's cool like yeah I think that like it's definitely making it faster for me to um, start working on the podcast because I don't have to like import anything. It's already like on the ssd. But there's like some things that they could fix. But for the most part it makes so yeah for them talk about this again.

28:57.57
davemaze
I know tell me about it I use the same thing we talked about this again on the previous one that you're not going to hear but I use it as well for my job and I kind of bang my head against the wall sometimes with that thing because the quality's not perfect like it isn't the cleanest looking ten eighty in the world and then. Some of the like presets I get like buggy things I'm not a resolve editor either. And basically what's cool about the Iso version is you can bring in 8 cameras up to 8 cameras. Yeah with the extreme.

29:28.10
Oscar Alva
That the extreme extreme version. Yeah, so.

29:33.20
davemaze
Um, and the Iso is the one that records to an ssd but you then you can basically all of your cuts are like saved I know it's a yeah yeah.

29:35.73
Oscar Alva
Yeah, they have too many versions they have too many versions of it. but but yeah you ah you could you could light live at it and it'll save all the cuts that you did while you were recording live and then you could pop them into. Da vinci and then switch camera angles if you need to but I always export a timeline from da vinci into premiere and then I have to like multicam it there and it's kind of like a process and that's what I wish that resolve would fix and third.

30:07.75
davemaze
So you actually you convert that one. So yeah, the problem is resolve gives you just one timeline and it's as if you were to just like take a clip pull it down take another clip pull it down like it is all that they are all.

30:20.61
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah.

30:24.15
davemaze
There and you can use the slip tool and stuff and it it works but I'm a so like it's not a multicam. So yeah I have.

30:26.83
Oscar Alva
I yeah but it doesn't give you like it doesn't give you like true. It doesn't give you true multicam. So what I have to do is I have to take the I have to take like that layer of like the cut files and then I pretty much like like ah we film with. Ah. With our computer like a counts a camera as a camera because it's connected through the h I port but we film with like five cameras on the podcast. So I make 7 layers of um, ah, 7 tracks 7 and video tracks and then I duplicate the first video track twice and put it. As a 6 and seventh layer and then I'm able to bring in the the raw ah camera 1 camera 2 camera 3 camera 4 into like the first like 5 layers and then I multicam the first 6 layers and then I just do all the cuts on ah on like that multicam clip.

31:20.55
davemaze
Like that movie. So you recut it essentially.

31:22.49
Oscar Alva
I Just like go and like I just like um yeah essentially I recut it. But since ah since I put that that already precut um layer into the Multicam. That's like my camera six Now. So camera 6 has like all the cuts already if that makes sense and.

31:40.92
davemaze
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys put so much work into your edits and we really I say we collectively as the viewers like we we can feel it and see it in the content. Um I mean yeah, what are your thoughts on on podcast editing because like. Aren't podcasts supposed to be like unedited in air quotes like why do you guys continue to put so much effort in the editing even for a podcast.

32:06.20
Oscar Alva
Um I don't know I think we just want to have a podcast. It's a little different from everybody else's so like we we try to make the podcast kind of be more of like a show rather than just like ah like a conversation because sometimes.

32:11.95
davemaze
Yeah.

32:17.28
davemaze
So do you get? Do you get burned out doing those.

32:25.19
Oscar Alva
Ah, yeah, ah sometimes yeah, it depends Sometimes we have like good guess that ah like it's entertaining the rewatch. But yeah, after after a while it's It's ah like if we have a boring guess. It's kind of like tedious. But for the most part It's kind of just cutting things out.

32:32.29
davemaze
Yeah, after a while.

32:44.14
Oscar Alva
And ah, piecing it together to where what somebody's trying to say still makes sense and it's kind of just getting to the point Faster So We just take out all like the filler of ah the conversation and just try to make like the the podcast be like okay so this is like what it is rather than. Talking over and over about like things that are repeating yourself over and over and and not getting to the point fast enough to.

33:10.20
davemaze
So have you guys noticed like because of those things you're getting good retention on a podcast and because you're getting good retention like obviously somebody watching a video for twenty or thirty minutes is way better than. Watching it for 10 minutes from Youtube's perspective so like from a monetary standpoint and from like a viewership standpoint. Do you guys see good numbers on the podcast. You know, even if the views aren't as high as a barbershop show. I would imagine the retention is much longer than a barbershop show.

33:43.38
Oscar Alva
So yeah, like we we keep people around for like around 75% of the video and towards the end is kind of like where they fall off but I feel like that's with like most podcasts but I feel like it's like the first the first like five 10 minutes of like the video that.

33:48.85
davemaze
Wow, That was written. Like sure I know like.

34:01.92
Oscar Alva
Is where they're either going to keep watching it or they're going to like shut it off, you know So that's why the barbershop is like the length that it is because that's like the sweet spot of like ah of like the time that you have people around for before they click something else or before like I feel like a lot of people watch like.

34:07.24
davemaze
Yeah, yeah.

34:20.78
davemaze
So.

34:21.13
Oscar Alva
Videos doing their commutes and a lot of times. It's like a ten fifteen minute like drive somewhere you know.

34:25.29
davemaze
I yeah, you're you're not wrong I unfortunately and dangerously do that as well. Um, but I have Youtube premiums so often I will listen to a video. Like for Jeff's podcast for crystal Dea's podcast for like ah that's a good point. I.

34:47.13
Oscar Alva
I mean even even like kids going to school like to take the school bus like they I feel like that they I feel like that's the majority of like the people who watch Youtube so I feel like they either watch it like on their way or like school or on their way to like home.

35:03.15
davemaze
Yeah, mom's driving the car. Yeah, you're right? You're right? and it's ah it's a passive like you can turn it on if especially if you have background play on Youtube Premium you could turn it on and like listen to it while you play a game or whatever too like I think.

35:16.42
Oscar Alva
I think when it comes to like brands I think they prefer having the audio listeners. But for yeah for I think audio listeners like valued way more than ah like a Youtube like view. But. Um, yeah for us like we I feel like the show is more like a visual show anyway. So because yeah, because like yeah like we'll play videos are like there's like visual gags that happen. So it's it's kind of like hard to not watch it.

35:42.26
davemaze
It's hard to not watch it because you're missing so much. Yeah.

35:53.96
Oscar Alva
But I guess it's good cause when people are listening to it then they go and watch the video to see like what's going on too so counts Steve views. Yeah.

35:58.34
davemaze
Yeah, little bit of both by the way. Do you look at the analytics are you involved in like the Youtube studio side of things for the channel. So do you do the thumbnails playlists description all that stuff. Yeah.

36:06.86
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, the playlists are automated at least for the barbershop and like the weight loss series that we did so pretty much like if we put beefy boys for like the weight loss series on the title like it'll automatically put it in the and like the beefy boy. Um, weight loss like like playlist. But yeah I make the thumbnails and I make Um, yeah I'd like run the backend. Yeah.

36:37.48
davemaze
And there's there's definitely a consistent theme with the barbershop show. Um I think it's funny how like you guys are in the new set. But you're still using the brick with the like the standard barbershop you know little Twisty thing. What is that called a a barber pull.

36:52.88
Oscar Alva
So the barber Pull barber pull. Yeah.

36:57.40
davemaze
Um, yeah I mean what have you learned as a thumbnail designer over the years like coming up with thumbnails that work and have you guys tested other things other types of styles. What are the things that you found making thumbnails that work for Jeff.

37:10.61
Oscar Alva
So yeah, so so we definitely do like ah ab b testing. Um, we're just kind of like what Netflix does where they have like different thumbnails for like they try out different thumbnails for video so we'll make multiple thumbnails and sometimes we'll change it sometimes we'll change the titles. Ah, if the video is like not like. Doing as good as like we wanted in the beginning. Ah, but yeah for the most part like we just put people's faces like right right up and ah that way like when you're selecting like you know, kind of like what you're getting. We were getting we tried um, we tried ah setting up like the thumbnails in the new barbershop. But since it was like brand new like people didn't know that it it was it was the same show. So um, we just like went with using like the same um thumbnail that we always use so that it's consistent and people know that oh it's a barbershop show we get and so yeah.

37:51.20
davemaze
So Sure. So. Same? Yeah, oh.

38:02.10
davemaze
I mean like look at Philip Defranco he's like 1 of the most old school youtubers out there and his thumbnail design hasn't changed in like 10 years if it if it works it works like people know exactly when they see a Philip Defranco thumbnail like up there's there'sfrannco.

38:15.92
Oscar Alva
Yeah I think I think Logan Logan does the same thing too on impulsive I feel like I feel like regardless like like anybody that does Youtube I feel like they should put their face on the thumbnail whether it's a gear review or like any any type of like video because ah, you're building a connection with your audience and. Like ah and once you do have like a fan that's gonna come and watch your videos over and over like they're coming for you and they're not coming for like just like the camera that you're like reviewing or anything like that. You know.

38:47.60
davemaze
And titles. Do you guys come up with your titles like before you shoot or is it kind of ah as you're going, you come up with it just like there's no really rhymer reason for the title. It just kind of comes to you or what? yeah.

39:01.17
Oscar Alva
Ah, yeah, sometimes we'll go in with like ah like a bit that we're gonna do and ah that's kind of like the idea of like what the the flow of the video is gonna be and also um, what like the title's gonna be but sometimes like we it's It's kind of. Reality Tv in the sense that that ah we don't We don't know how the video's going to turn out either like when we go and film it like we get plan for it. But it's so just still like the element of surprise of like how the person's going to react so a lot of times we'll come up with the title as like we finish the edit it all. Comes down to like what the video is actually about because you could clickbait. But Also if you don't have what you're clickbaiting in the video like people tend to get men and like tune out of that.

39:48.46
davemaze
And you said that you have other titles you have other thumbnails like ready to go at a moment's notice is that really a thing like you actually make multiple titles and thumbnails before you even upload or is that kind of like oh crap. It's not working. Let's figure something else out or.

40:05.90
Oscar Alva
Ah, yeah, sometimes sometimes we'll make multiple thumbnails like before we upload, but a lot of the times it kind of like okay like this title's not working like let's try something else. So.

40:14.76
davemaze
Yeah, and but at what point do you realize? it's not working like is it 24 hours later is it 3 hours in like are you able to pretty much judge the performance pretty quick. Yeah, maybe like the first first hour. Oh wow.

40:26.35
Oscar Alva
And yeah, maybe in like the first the first hour like where where you kind of like have like milestones of like where view should kind of like be at so um, yeah, and like the the first hour or so.

40:34.50
davemaze
Yeah, Wow. Yeah yeah. So Let's move on to the streamy that you won about the the documentary series that you made. Yeah.

40:46.69
Oscar Alva
Yeah, the the gist of it is Jeff got into an accident and we made a ah documentary of his recovery and like his coming back to Youtube because he took off for some time because he had to do surgeries and stuff like that and ah. Yeah, we pretty much like put a story out of like what his accident was and um, like how it happened and like what it took for him to pretty much like overcome like um, that obstacle that that obstacle in his life and it resonated with a lot of people and. We were able to get nominated for a streaming and we just found out that we wouldn't maybe like a month ago yeah thanks

41:29.84
davemaze
It's awesome man congratulations I'm sure you didn't like set out to do it. You know you weren't like we're going to win a streaming you know or did you no.

41:38.46
Oscar Alva
No, we we no, we originally set to make a documentary about skydiving because it was like the beginning of the pandemic or yeah, the beginning of the pandemic and then ah like nobody was posting on Youtube really like. Everybody kind of like the world halted and this is kind of when David was at his peak of like making videos and he stopped to so he stopped for like maybe like six months and then ah he wanted to do like this big comeback video like we were. He was working with ah Devin supertrap on like making pretty much like recreating all of like Devin's like most viral videos but with his friends Jeff was getting like certified to like learn how to skydive and skydive ons own with Todd and like Natalie and ah. I was just filming basically behind the scenes video like I was filming a vlog and it ended up turning into him getting into an accident pretty much like just filming his recovery and then we turned that into like this documentary where at the end of it. He was still going to get his. Skydiving license and kind of make it like full circle like kind of inspiring. So ah yeah, that's pretty much like how we went about it and.

43:01.75
davemaze
So It's crazy and it's it's common for a documentary to kind of unfold in that way but all of these things combined gave you the you know accidentally of course but like gave you the best kind of storytelling palette to to work with where. He's going out to be the skydiving guy then this incident happens The lowest low of his life happens and then you know at the end he you know I won't spoil it but comes back and like it's inspiring.

43:31.47
Oscar Alva
He comes back from it. Yeah, he dies not he dies he dies at the end.

43:39.78
davemaze
Basically yeah and at the very end We have an amazing cover of a creed song which is freaking hilarious and came completely out of left field when you're watching the film like that moment. It's just such a twist that.

43:44.12
Oscar Alva
Let's go to the Lake on let's go there but don't smash my face.

43:56.29
davemaze
It was like what the heck that's amazing like it's so Jeff like the humor is is incredible way. No and you mentioned too that the guy from creed the lead singer of creed like actually saw the the video and the parody.

43:57.97
Oscar Alva
To Lake where yeah turned on a positive note. Can you.

44:11.78
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, he yeah because we messaged him to see if we could get the song cleared even though we were making a parody of it like we ah like we still wanted the video to like pretty much like make money and um, yeah, so we we got it cleared through them. I mean through him like he he senses like his label and like they figured it out but I don't I don't think that he knew that I was gonna be a parody but he ended up ended up watching the documentary and I think he like messaged Jeff saying like a like good job like inspiring or something like that.

44:31.89
davemaze
Oh Wow I.

44:43.60
davemaze
I everybody go watch the film. It's incredible I say film because if you put all the pieces together. It really is a film but it's 6 Youtube videos you guys dropped them one week after another it was just unreal hype like. You guys are on trending like this thing was blowing up the.

45:00.47
Oscar Alva
And yeah I think I think ah we waited not not a full week but I think we waited like 2 3 days ah before posting each one because we were still editing it as we were posting it. It wasn't like 100% done yeah so so like we had.

45:07.46
davemaze
Okay.

45:13.54
davemaze
In typical Youtuber fashion. Yeah, it's awesome I.

45:20.33
Oscar Alva
We had like a master timeline that we hired. Ah, ah our friend neb she's she's a creative director that works with us and she hired this editor from Canada his name's eugene and he pretty much like gave us like ah he organized like all the footage for us and gave us. Um. Like a 2 two and a half hour long ah timeline that I went on and cut it down to like the the most like interesting like moments from it and it turned out to be like an hour and a half ah in in total with like the 6 episodes. But um. Yeah, he he edited it. He did like a really good job like on like piecing the sword together we we were working on getting the episodes down to be like ten fifteen minutes long and ah as we were posting them. We got live. Like feedback from people of like how how it resonated with them so that helped us kind of edit like the rest of it to like um to fit like the story better to like how people were reacting to it if that makes sense and.

46:30.90
davemaze
Yeah, yeah, totally that's the beauty of Youtube and did you do that on purpose like thinking like hey we should go ahead and just post this and live edit to see to gauge the response like was that a thought or is that kind of a happy accident. Yeah.

46:43.65
Oscar Alva
No, that's that that was a happy accident and something that just happened as we were posting. Um, yeah so I.

46:48.30
davemaze
Wow Yeah, how did how did how did that dictate your editing decisions moving forward. Were there things that like oh shoot people respond to this. We weren't expecting that. Yeah.

46:58.80
Oscar Alva
And yeah, like we there was just stuff that we cut out that was like maybe like too much like stuff that was like maybe too glory or stuff like that. Ah.

47:06.80
davemaze
Okay, yeah I mean for people who aren't familiar with the injury. It was a very drastic eye injury that happened you need to go watch the the film but it was gory for sure and bloody for some of the surgery stuff.

47:21.40
Oscar Alva
Yeah, also also ah like Youtube necessarily didn't like the video because the accident happened making a Youtube video so we were also gauging. Gauging kind of like how like people respond to it and like whether Youtube was going to like age restricted or not and pretty much almost every episode of it got age restricted so you can only watch it if youre 18 it just didn't like help get like I feel like the full reach. It could have had but I can see why. They they age restricted to and that's why we set up a Patreon and we put like the full like um, yeah, we set up the page. Yeah.

47:58.78
davemaze
Tell me about the the patreon. Yeah I mean that was a huge shift for Jeff he's never done a patreon before and he also started the podcast around this time as well. Um, yeah, tell me about the Patreon.

48:10.73
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so ah, we were planning on starting the podcast I read after the documentary because my dad was still working on the on the barbershop set as we were posting it on Youtube we realized that Youtube was going to age restrict it all so we were. Like not going to make any money on it and we spent like a lot of money we spent a lot of money making it like with flights and going back and forth to like surgeries and just filming everything we put it on Patreon and then since it was getting so much traction on Youtube and everybody wanted to see the actual. Like injury we put that behind basically a paywall and like we became like the the biggest or second biggest Patreon creators and patronon free which I reached ah Paton pretty much I reach out to is on like they've been like really cool. We. Talk to pretty much like everybody there and i.

49:09.37
davemaze
That's incredible. The Ceo is amazing I heard an interview with him with Colin and Samir and he seems like a awesome guy.

49:13.53
Oscar Alva
Yeah, he does he does documentaries too. He goes in pretty much follows creators around then similar to like we'll call in Samirdu but he'll go and follow them around like their day-to-day life to see like kind of how the magic happens. Um.

49:30.91
davemaze
That's cool of.

49:33.26
Oscar Alva
But yeah, like we we started the Patreon and then um, like ah we offer like different things on patreron now too to keep our audience there. Happy. So that's where we post like our live streams and like vlogs and all the stuff that. We wouldn't necessarily put on like our main channel even though some of the vlogs are like really good and we wish that we should put them on on the main channel but like they're they're like paying so it's.

49:52.26
davemaze
M.

50:00.45
davemaze
That's a good. Ah, there's a good ad for it. The vlogs are really good people go if you want to see the awesome vlogs you got to be a Patreon member. So so that's the incentive then is you're doing what a monthly live stream and vlogs are.

50:06.28
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so ah.

50:13.95
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so we do 2 2 live streams like an extra podcast and we yeah and then we do vlogs too. Yeah.

50:18.38
davemaze
I an extra podcast wow and what about the the mainline videos like the mainline barbershop videos those just get posted like normal to Youtube basically.

50:32.16
Oscar Alva
Ah, yeah, so Patreon gets early access to them so they get to see it like a day before and they get to see it without ads and ah yeah, like no no ad reads so they get like the full experience.

50:37.99
davemaze
Oh yeah, yeah of course yeah no ads. So my brain is hurting thinking about your workload each month you're talking about what like 3 normal podcasts plus 1 extra 1 on Patreon.

50:52.33
Oscar Alva
Yeah.

50:59.10
Oscar Alva
So wood's for podcast. It's weekly. so so so five five yeah, that's already.

51:01.75
davemaze
4 okay, so yeah, so 4 podcasts normal and an extra one. Okay so that's already a full month's worth of work in my opinion and then you're doing what like 2 barbershop shows which are highly edited. Extremely. Ah, labor intensive in terms of like making it as funny and is like that's the viral content that you're making on Youtube that's getting millions and millions of views. So what like 1 or 2 of those a month yeah

51:28.29
Oscar Alva
And yeah yeah 2 yeah 2 or 3 sometimes it it depends on if we're able to get a guess a guess like locked in. But yeah, ah like 2 or 3 yeah 2 or 3

51:34.21
davemaze
Yeah, 3 Okay, if yeah and then yeah and then how many vlogs 3 2 and your bit I mean you you you now have an extra editor but you are really doing the the.

51:48.50
Oscar Alva
And then to like.

51:54.10
davemaze
Ah, is it fair to say that you're doing the majority of the editing right.

51:56.31
Oscar Alva
I Feel like it's about even between all of us now. But um, but yeah for the most part it's ah it's like a lot of work like we're editing basically every day and.

51:59.60
davemaze
Oh good.

52:07.66
davemaze
You don't take weekends off.

52:10.28
Oscar Alva
So we started taking Sundays off. But so.

52:13.50
davemaze
This is a young man's job. This is a young single man with no kid's life that you're living right now. Enjoy enjoy it while you have it. Um I kind of met like my from from like 4 to 8 every day and then full weekends for me is like time with my.

52:19.42
Oscar Alva
So yeah, try.

52:32.98
davemaze
My wife and my kids and it's so sacred that like I will not allow anything to get in between that and that has really helped me with my overall fulfillment and happiness because I found when I'm way to work like it just. Obviously my relationship with my kids and my wife like that's way more important to me than work. But I'm in a I'm 31 and I'm in a different stage. So. It's mind blowing to me to think about that I remember my early 20 s like just working nonstop like I commend to you for it.

52:54.14
Oscar Alva
Way more? yeah.

53:09.00
davemaze
Keep keep up the valiant work that's nuts. What's crazy to me is like Jeff I think is making enough money to continue to hire. Maybe another guy or to help you but um, it sounds like you guys are you on a healthy. Like editing schedule or do you feel like you're basically hitting the like at the last minute every week.

53:32.10
Oscar Alva
Ah, for the podcast sometimes because we like our our set date to record that we're supposed to record is supposed to be like Monday or Tuesday but we don't get to do it so like Thursday or Friday sometimes and we have like a deadline for like ad reads on sunday.

53:48.40
davemaze
Yeah, on sunday.

53:51.59
Oscar Alva
So sometimes it is like down to like down to the bone. So but for yeah since since we have to post like early axes on Patreon like that's like a day less that we have to.

53:53.45
davemaze
So yeah, you you posted that today right? or yesterday.

54:08.45
Oscar Alva
Post a video on on Youtube. So yeah, it's ah sometimes a tactic but for the most part we we kind of got it down now like we're just like used to it and yeah I think like pretty early on into us making videos I kind of realize that to be able to.

54:08.92
davemaze
Wow! yeah.

54:28.12
Oscar Alva
Make like content at this caliber. You kind of have to give like a lot of stuff up. So yeah, like I don't like make plans with people because I always end up having to bail. Um, but yeah like I'm doing what I love and I feel like really lucky to be in the position I'm in so I'm just.

54:30.50
davemaze
Sure.

54:43.77
davemaze
Of course you.

54:46.76
Oscar Alva
Working really hard now to build kind of like our own like little empire that could live on like after Youtube you know.

54:49.68
davemaze
yeah dude yeah well that's the thing is you you work you like you? Um, there's this guy named Dave Ramsey's like a financial guy and he always says live like no one else. So that later you can live like no one else and he's referring to financially like. Save your money be on a budget. Be cheap. Essentially so that when you're older you have investments and money to live off of and you can live like no one else I think in this instance, you're working your butts off and like creating an empire like you said so that later when that time comes maybe in 10 years when you can. You know, 5 to 10 years You can slowly kind of ease the gas a little bit. The machine is running Jeff also has this other business with his hair products which just started as well selling actual hair products and and things that we'll probably eventually we'll see in stores. Um. All that type of stuff you're working to build build build and that's what a lot of entrepreneurs have to do at the beginning is to like work your tail off. So that later you can kind of you know ride the coattails of your of your hard labor that you put in at the beginning and that's what you guys are doing now. But.

56:03.10
Oscar Alva
Yeah, and also yeah, also hiring more people doesn't really help because we've like we've hired multiple editors to like come and help and they just don't get it. So it's it's it's hard to kind of just like hand it off to like just like anybody.

56:04.58
davemaze
You've been doing it out for like 7 years

56:22.76
Oscar Alva
Like Kyle's kind of been with us for a little over a year now and he used to work for Jonah and he would help around. He was like 1 of the first people to help around like filming giving an extra hand on set and ah now he's he's helping edit and like he gets it because he's been around long enough.

56:27.57
davemaze
We're to go. Okay.

56:32.95
davemaze
Yeah now.

56:38.85
davemaze
Um, totally yeah so.

56:41.26
Oscar Alva
And um, yeah, so so just hiring more people doesn't really like fix like the issue but it's like not really a big issue to like worry about ah but yeah, definitely like now we've we've kind of like talked about it and.

56:51.33
davemaze
Yeah, yeah, so.

56:58.45
Oscar Alva
For like Oliver like mental health like we decided that we should take a day off like every week or like every two weeks or something like that and ah yeah, like that. Yeah and with the barbershop being on the road now like ah we go on trips now so we'll go to like Vegas or we just did like a full road trip.

57:01.15
davemaze
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, totally yeah.

57:18.33
Oscar Alva
Where we went to Miami and then we went to New York we shot with deport Noi and then the bing bong guys so that that was like fun that was like a fun work trip and we were able to like flog. Um.

57:23.19
davemaze
Guys. Yeah, yeah, like long. Um.

57:33.40
Oscar Alva
Stuff That's like not just like us like hanging out or like editing and stuff like that. So good point.

57:37.65
davemaze
That's a good point that the the Patreon and vlog content also gets a huge upgrade with the barbershop being on the road like that that inherent like honestly the barbershop show is so formulaic it has to be the way it is.

57:44.24
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah.

57:52.56
davemaze
You can't necessarily add all this cool vlog content of the travel experience when it comes to the humor and stuff with Jeff and with yourself. How did you guys get to that level where you you almost I would imagine you guys kind of speak your own language to each other while you're shooting. You can give him a look or he can give you a look or when it comes to the editing. He may say something or do something knowing that you're going to edit it a certain way like how does that happen and like the the type of humor is so specific. How do you edit in that way like how do you edit funny I don't know. That's really a big question but does it come from just years and years of consuming a lot of comedy and.

58:36.60
Oscar Alva
Yeah, like um, we we really like stuff like Nathan for you. He's like a very like dry comedian. So yeah I think it's ah I think it's a comedy central show. But um.

58:41.96
davemaze
Yes, on Hbo it's amazing I think it's on hulu as well. But check it out.

58:53.36
Oscar Alva
Yeah, like shows like that or like we'll watch like a lot of adults swim or like South Park family guy like like all this stuff that we kind of grew up with is kind of like funny. So I guess like I like for me personally I picked up from that and I'm able to kind of. See how like they write their jokes and how they like execute them and for for what we do. We're able to still do that. But also we have to like care about um, just like how much time we have in in the episode and I think that vine helped a lot with that because vine. Gave you a constraint of 6 seconds so you had to like make a joke work in 6 seconds and I think that that helped kind of like build a like build a like I guess the experience of like being able to tell a joke faster and like having like the punchline like like hit quicker without like.

59:50.22
davemaze
Yeah, of course and that's one of the main takeaways from your content is there's not a single second wasted with anything and based on our conversation about the podcast too. It seems like even with a 1 hour long podcast.

59:50.39
Oscar Alva
Dragging it on for too long. Yeah.

01:00:07.74
davemaze
You're not even wasting any time with that and that's kind of if anybody's going to take anything away from this conversation I think if you're creating content for Youtube or forget just Youtube like any type of internet content. You have to just cut out the fluff. It's not what you know it's not traditional. Ah, filmmaking the the story structure is still there. You have the the kind of skeleton of what works in the way that storytelling works but you guys really just pull all the fluff out. Yeah, do you ever feel like.

01:00:35.52
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, straight to the point.

01:00:45.81
davemaze
It's too much and you end up putting things back in to let it breathe a little bit. Yeah, definitely.

01:00:49.88
Oscar Alva
Yeah there's definitely times where it feels like there's too many jump cuts and like we'll pull stuff back or like we'll pull reactions of like people in back just to um, yeah, just like to fix the timing of it a little but it's like. It's frames. It's not like a second of like time that we like bring back in so it'll be like like 5 frames that like make the like the joke hit better or something like that.

01:01:17.29
davemaze
Do you ever feel like you know, are you able to see you know Jeff so well, he's like a close friend at this point are you able to remove yourself from that and see what you're creating and be like really proud of what you're doing or. Like did this streaming kind of give you any validation that you were maybe needing from your peers. Ah.

01:01:41.80
Oscar Alva
I ah now. Ah, honestly Casey takes Tick Casey texting me saying like like good job on like the dog about and stuff like that was like really cool because Casey's somebody that like I care about his opinion and um, like he he's like inspired me to like want to.

01:01:54.13
davemaze
Yeah.

01:02:01.70
Oscar Alva
Be a filmmaker and ah it just like comes full circle you know, but um for the for the most part. Yeah like awards don't really like mean much. Um I think ah getting like our Youtube plaque was cool like it was a cool milestone just because.

01:02:04.37
davemaze
So hundred percent yeah Yeah

01:02:19.15
Oscar Alva
Like I grew up wanting to be a youtuber and I kind of get to be a youtuber but without like the anxiety of like being in the spotlight sometimes I'll go and watch like an old video like if if I meet somebody new and I'm trying to show them like kind of like what I do for work and like I'll play like an old video like ah, it's like funny to me to like watch because. I Remember being stressed while editing it and like trying to get it out on time but like I'm able to go back and watch a video and still find it funny and and like appreciate it Now. So Ah yeah.

01:02:40.21
davemaze
Kind of get it out online. Ah.

01:02:47.28
davemaze
Ah, that's amazing. But that's awesome. Plus now the vlogs like you're in the vlogs. You're really involved like Jeff I love it. Seems like he's a really kind of family guy like with the crew. Because he's constantly referencing you guys and like you're in the shots sometimes like um and that's what makes it fun too is like there is that kind of banter and kind of back and forth with you guys behind the camera even um, yeah, and.

01:03:17.50
Oscar Alva
Yeah, and and I think it just it just helps kind of again ground the video and in in reality that like it's actual people working on it and it's not just like a full crew and that I guess like love goes into the video.

01:03:30.87
davemaze
Video like everybody.

01:03:33.80
Oscar Alva
Like it's like like every video is made with like love and care and like attention. So I feel like by having is in there like the audience picks up on that and like they appreciate it more too like I get like messages from people all the time saying like oh like thank you for like making these videos and stuff like that and that's like really rewarding.

01:03:52.61
davemaze
That's awesome, not as rewarding as when Casey Texts you but yeah um I think one of the main questions that I had initially talking to you that I was just curious about is how scripted out are these episodes or.

01:03:52.99
Oscar Alva
But yeah, yeah.

01:04:09.34
davemaze
Jeff kind of have a bullet point. Do you guys do this together. Do you like sit around a table on a Monday morning and say alright guys we got Dave Portnoy on Friday we got to figure out what we're gonna do I don't know why you guys have southern accents all of a sudden but um.

01:04:22.57
Oscar Alva
But well for for dayport noy we we drove to Miami so we had like the whole drive there to to kind of to kind of like ah e no we got we got to Miami in two days

01:04:27.35
davemaze
Yeah, yeah, true, that's a long drive how so two days three days

01:04:38.91
davemaze
Wow! yeah.

01:04:41.79
Oscar Alva
Yeah, but because we we only stopped for like 5 hours to sleep and then we kept driving but um because we yeah, yeah, so we had all that time to talk about it. But for the most part we'll either plan a little the night before like Jeff has his like notes.

01:04:46.39
davemaze
Amazing. So you have all that time to talk about it.

01:04:59.69
Oscar Alva
And he kind of tells us like the the main like things that he wants to like hit sometimes they'll tell me something um, like right before we're going to film and I'm like not set up for it and I'm like okay now I have to like think about like this extra thing that we're going to like have to like film.

01:05:03.10
davemaze
Yeah, they'll tell me.

01:05:16.92
Oscar Alva
And I'm like setting up the microphones at the moment. So then I'm like okay like I gotta get them laughed even faster now. So yeah, like like I.

01:05:23.20
davemaze
Jae that chaos is kind of part of it too which makes it fun like that you feel that energy in the the way you shoot it almost the chaos is.

01:05:29.37
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, so um I don't know you know the um a day in a life. The song of day in life by the Beatles like it has ah has like.

01:05:38.87
davemaze
Yeah I think so I'm sure if I heard it I'd recognize it.

01:05:44.72
Oscar Alva
Has like a part in the middle where it kind of like it's just like instruments like playing louder and louder and more chaotic I feel like I feel like that's kind of like how we shoot our videos like like it's like it's like a nice like song and then just gets like like really chaotic and you know what's going on and then then ends with like like a nice like note.

01:05:48.25
davemaze
Yeah to count.

01:06:02.53
davemaze
Ah, absolutely and that's what that energy is what drives the drives it all. But so so basically you guys might kind of talk through it Jeff kind of has bullet points. But the the thing's not scripted. He's not like.

01:06:04.34
Oscar Alva
Um, so.

01:06:09.65
Oscar Alva
Yeah.

01:06:19.68
davemaze
Memorizing things and and coming in with a teleprompter anything right? no.

01:06:22.92
Oscar Alva
And now ah he has like bullet points and then it's kind of like ah we don't know the person's reaction. So that's like the part that's unscripted but um for the most part he'll have like his general questions and then he'll have. Like um questions that are specific to like that guest that that we hit or like bits that are specific to that guest and yeah, like the gas reaction is kind of the part that we don't know what's going to happen. And the guest doesn't know what we're going to do to them so it's kind of like like ah like ah when we do a bit like we kind of hope that this is a reaction that they give and if it's not like we'll plan for something else and then we'll take the reaction from like the second thing and put it where like the first thing's supposed to be so.

01:07:07.51
davemaze
And somebody else. Yeah.

01:07:13.48
davemaze
Ah, okay, yeah, or if it's if it's a horribly offensive line. You'll just shoot it later like Jeff just kind of talking off camera right? like if it's just ridiculous. Yeah.

01:07:15.97
Oscar Alva
So that like our joke still lands. But yeah.

01:07:27.29
Oscar Alva
And yeah, yeah, but sometimes they'll fo it like ah straight into their face like with frans in gou. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:07:35.38
davemaze
Yeah, seriously, it's dangerous danger danger danger for sure I would imagine that Jeff does a lot of research on some of these guests or I don't know I would some of his questions are pretty deep and he'll ask like. Really controversial questions too like he'll find maybe some article that was said about somebody and like bring it up which is most people don't have the guts to ah to ask those types of questions but he'll he'll bring it up and it's hilarious and.

01:08:09.89
Oscar Alva
Yeah, he'll he'll bring up more of like um like lele ponds. For instance, she's like she was pretty hated on the internet for making the types of content the type of content that she makes but we'll pretty much just like make the joke that like then internet it's already making like to their face and.

01:08:20.27
davemaze
M.

01:08:29.47
Oscar Alva
And it gives them like the chance to show that they could take the joke and then they kind of like like claim that joke if that makes sense like that like ah like it's not hate anymore like they're laughing with you now. So I feel like we we give people.

01:08:37.20
davemaze
Yeah.

01:08:42.83
davemaze
It Yeah, it's it diffuses it.

01:08:47.38
Oscar Alva
Yeah, so we give people kind of like a a little redemption if they're like hated like with Bryce Hall like we we did the joke where like they cut our power because Bryce Hall was there and throwing a party or something like that. Um, and and it's just like yeah.

01:08:57.46
davemaze
Ah, is that something that he did they cut his power because he was parting too much and.

01:09:05.25
Oscar Alva
Yeah, the City cut his power because he was throwing a party right at the beginning of Covid but ah yeah, so so they shut his like power out at his like house. So like we just like made that same joke but they cut our power out just because we hung out with him.

01:09:08.83
davemaze
You? Okay, oh okay, yeah, okay I.

01:09:22.34
davemaze
Ah, and and sometimes you guys will have like storyline threads that go through each episode like a certain character that is you know going through something or you know you had the ah the the sponsor um current. You know you guys like. Stole an Atm machine with current all over it and you're dragging it around everywhere you go and stuff I have no idea how they the video.

01:09:43.43
Oscar Alva
Yeah I have no idea how they approved the video but like ah the third original video I have no idea how they approved it because 1 we're like stealing this atm like straight out of a wall and like somebody dies in the video and like like the the gunshot like like.

01:09:59.30
davemaze
Not in real life ever ever. But this is all staged. It's comedy. It's not real. So.

01:10:03.38
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah, yeah Stage. So So we we bought like this squib that shoots like like blood out and and like it looks like realistic and like we have like ah like a really real looking prop gun and we're like a brand's never going to approve this and like. Have no idea how they approved it but they loved it and then they're like yeah I can't wait for the next one. But but now now when I talk when I talk to people like they always bring up like they're like how'd you do that video like how how did the brand approve it and.

01:10:25.17
davemaze
Ah, some good people over there.

01:10:36.82
Oscar Alva
Um, like I don't know but like obviously it worked because like they're bringing it up and they remember the brand you know? yeah.

01:10:38.89
davemaze
Yeah, totally seriously That's that's the ironic thing is often creators have great ideas like that and brands are like no, that's too controversial. It's like but this would make your company more money because people would like know your brand like it's it's crazy.

01:10:56.54
Oscar Alva
Yeah, yeah.

01:10:59.28
davemaze
It's just the political correctness stuff I guess I don't know but I.

01:11:01.23
Oscar Alva
We yeah like we were sponsored by oldspice and they wanted like ah like a script basically for every video that we were going to do but we're like we can't do that because it's a talk show like we don't know we don't know what the guest is going to say you know.

01:11:10.73
davemaze
But what there's no, you don't know. Yeah yeah, they.

01:11:17.49
Oscar Alva
But they were like really like nitpicky about every single joke and every single like ah thing that we did so they were like not necessarily a fun brand to work with but yet. Yeah, so we can make all the jokes that mean, want without.

01:11:25.81
davemaze
Yeah, yeah, and then Jeff went ahead and made his own hair products. So yeah, and by the way i.

01:11:35.51
Oscar Alva
Having to cut them. Yeah.

01:11:38.10
davemaze
Ah, watched the basically the 6 minute ad for the product where he gives it out to his friends and stuff and there's some great jokes in there and then obviously the promotional video for the the product is hilarious. Everybody can go see it at http://jeffsbarbershop.com I believe is that right? or is that? yeah so you could.

01:11:53.17
Oscar Alva
So ah, yeah, yeah, just barbershop or http://jefffotake.com and takes you to the too. But um, yeah, that video we actually shot it in a day and edited it in a day because ah because the barbershop video that we had put out like our guest.

01:11:57.55
davemaze
You see all the yeah.

01:12:05.42
davemaze
Wow.

01:12:12.54
Oscar Alva
Was bald so it didn't make sense for us to launch this like hair product line with like a guest that has like no hair. So so like the timing of that was just kind of like off on our part So we're like we just got to like shoot something right now and make something like.

01:12:18.78
davemaze
Yeah, yeah.

01:12:28.83
davemaze
And I think it turned out great like it's really um, kind of almost different from Jeff's content I guess it's more of v log style but like obviously the the shoot at the beginning Jeff looks like a freaking like like Gucci model or something. It's insane. How good you guys made him look.

01:12:30.25
Oscar Alva
Good happen. You know.

01:12:37.81
Oscar Alva
Yeah, obviously the.

01:12:45.19
Oscar Alva
Yeah.

01:12:48.75
davemaze
Um, and then he goes out with all his friends like giving it giving the hair product to his friends and stuff and it's it's pretty funny but um, Oliver tree is an episode that stands out in my mind. Obviously he actually injured Jeff.

01:12:54.12
Oscar Alva
Yeah.

01:13:02.33
Oscar Alva
He Yeah he he? yeah he he actually is very hands on too like he wanted to see her cut and he he has like his editor that like like I said are are.

01:13:06.85
davemaze
Right? yeah.

01:13:19.23
Oscar Alva
Timelines are so complicated because we shoot with so many cameras and so many like things that it's like even hard to like hand off to somebody that's kind of experienced um unless like they're they've like worked in that workflow and we we ended up going to Oliver's house with like our edit and then like his editor was there.

01:13:25.57
davemaze
Yeah, yeah.

01:13:38.53
Oscar Alva
And um, yeah, like like they they just like love going through like the footage and finding like little things like he also remembered like jokes that he said that ah he he wanted like bring back in. They're actually like the ones who introduced introduced me to dscript. Um, but.

01:13:45.15
davemaze
I said Wow Ah I Oh wow.

01:13:56.22
Oscar Alva
But yeah, like like they have like ah like a really good like team to ah people and it's just like 1 other person for oliver tree two that that like does all his stuff and it was kind of like the same setup like as like Jeff and I so they're they're like really.

01:14:06.45
davemaze
And crazy.

01:14:14.00
davemaze
And yeah, Oliver's kind of sense of humor is is in line with Jeff so it doesn't surprise me that ah you guys hit it off and his stuff is very cinematic like he's always been like pushing the bar on. Ah.

01:14:14.60
Oscar Alva
Couple people to work with.

01:14:30.95
davemaze
And the production quality on his music videos and stuff. Um and the whole character like the whole character. The whole thing of Oliver tree is amazing like the whole art of it and the fact that he stays in that character all the time is just I'm really impressed with.

01:14:45.10
Oscar Alva
Yeah, like like the yeah when we filmed that he was in character the whole time like the whole time he broke he broke everything in Jeff's apartment and he left and like this guy's a psychopath but ah. Yeah, he didn't he didn't break character ones like ah it was pretty pretty crazy like I've never met somebody like like Jeff will break character like when he like he knows that like the guest is like feeling too uncomfortable like he'll break character and like tell them like ah on inside like hey like like trust me like it's gonna look really good. But yeah, Oliver didn't.

01:15:14.98
davemaze
Yeah, yeah.

01:15:24.65
Oscar Alva
Like the only time I saw him break character was when we went to his house and like I met him as like him not like in his costume. You know? yeah.

01:15:30.73
davemaze
Ah, a very rare instance to you know for free. The fact that you were able to meet him as as himself is rare so good for you but he did he he actually did smack Jeff with the the little go cart thing.

01:15:41.74
Oscar Alva
Yeah.

01:15:48.73
Oscar Alva
Yeah.

01:15:49.48
davemaze
And Jeff was still going through the healing process did that actually mess with his his ah head or like his eye or.

01:15:55.30
Oscar Alva
I don't I don't think he hit him in the head I think he ran his foot over um, but but yeah, like we felt yeah because we filmed with ah because Jeff I think broke his toe. Ah when he got into his accident too.

01:16:01.40
davemaze
And it actually hurt right? so.

01:16:10.87
davemaze
I Okay I didn't Okay, yeah oh ah, gosh. Okay.

01:16:13.46
Oscar Alva
Ah, so I think he ran over like that foot. Yeah, so there. Yeah, there's a lot of injuries that happen that we didn't put in the documentary but ah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Jeff was like.

01:16:20.10
davemaze
And so the the reaction on his face when he was like no no, no, no, no like he's Jeff is not. He's not in character in that moment. He's actually telling Oliver tree stop now you don't realize my foot's broken like.

01:16:33.41
Oscar Alva
Yeah, and I don't think that Oliver realized that either like I don't think that Oliver realized that ah Jeff was actually injured because we were still kind of playing it up as as like oh like like we're doing insurance fraud and like this and thisna just like.

01:16:44.16
davemaze
You know? yeah.

01:16:51.80
davemaze
Yeah.

01:16:51.14
Oscar Alva
Making like a fake narrative and um, yeah, because we phoned with Oliver maybe three weeks after after the accident and um, yeah, like it was um, like he he he just didn't know like he thought that.

01:16:56.31
davemaze
Crazy.

01:17:07.64
Oscar Alva
Because Oliver came in like with like a neck brace too I think so so um, yeah, yeah, yeah, so so yeah, like it. It's just like a funny funny accident.

01:17:07.93
davemaze
Um, exactly so he thought he thought Jeff was acting with the injuries in the first place. Yeah yeah, okay.

01:17:21.19
davemaze
And were there any other guests that really stand out to you as like these guests I will remember for the rest of my life. This moment was like absurd and ridiculous or like amazing and.

01:17:32.29
Oscar Alva
And I guess like Alex Ernst his episode that we did with him was really fun to me just because it was like way different from any other barbershop app so that we've done. We also almost got arrested filming that episode and it was like a three four day shoot and we ended up getting covid in between it.

01:17:39.65
davemaze
Oh my goodness.

01:17:49.54
davemaze
Oh Jez like.

01:17:51.55
Oscar Alva
And we had to like wait till we were like ah like clear. Yeah, just like a lot of stuff happened for that video to like come out and it almost didn't come out and those are our Christian video last year it came out out on Christmas because of like all the stuff that like happened to that that just like went wrong, but it's one of my favorite videos that we've done.

01:18:01.32
davemaze
Good lord. Okay.

01:18:09.45
davemaze
So I've never so yeah.

01:18:10.83
Oscar Alva
Like we drove for like 3 hours just to like find snow and turns out that there was no snow. The first time that we went and we had to wait like a week. Um.

01:18:19.35
davemaze
My gosh I never saw that one I'm gonna um when we're done with this conversation I will absolutely watch that video right away because I have not seen that one.

01:18:25.93
Oscar Alva
So it was our Christmas video for last year and if you watch the video right? after you see like everything that we went through to like make that video because we put ah behind of scenes like video there and.

01:18:38.70
davemaze
Dude I you know what I I feel like I could talk to you for hours and hours I don't want to I don't want to take too much of your time. This is already the second time we've done this. So. Thank you so much for coming on the show Oscar I feel like we're friends now this has been like. Super fun for me to learn about you and to learn about Jeff did way better and nobody will ever know for sure. The lighting is better. The our cameras look better. The audio quality is better and the conversation was.

01:18:56.17
Oscar Alva
And yeah I feel like this this this podcast is better than the first one that we phoned for sure. Yeah.

01:19:14.26
davemaze
Top tier. So thank you Oscar for coming on the show. Everybody you can find Oscar at Oscar Alva on social media is that right on Instagram are you interested in doing your own channel or like sharing a lot of this knowledge with other creators because um.

01:19:21.88
Oscar Alva
On Instagram yeah.

01:19:33.22
Oscar Alva
Oh ah, yeah yeah, ah this is like my first this is the longest that I've talked on camera for sure. Ah, ah eventually I feel like ah once things like settle down with what we're working on here.

01:19:33.77
davemaze
You know this is really the first time that you've kind of talked right? and.

01:19:52.21
Oscar Alva
Like I'll eventually make my own channel and hopefully inspire like kids who make Youtube videos like I was inspired so until then I'm just gonna keep on working on all the stuff that that's keeping me busy now.

01:20:04.23
davemaze
So that's awesome. Well, you're certainly an inspiration to me and I know a lot of our listeners are inspired as well. Your work ethic is next level the quality of the stuff that you're doing is nuts and um I commend you for it. We see I say we as the collective filmmaking audience. We see the work and the effort that's going into this stuff like the amount of camera angles that you're working with the quality of the footage and the lighting and the audio a lot of people don't realize it but sound is like so important when it comes to comedy and also just making things like actually work on video. Thank you again. Oscar for coming on. We're so inspired by you and we hope to hear more from you in the future. Um, and yeah, thanks for being on the golden hour podcast. Of course.

01:20:50.30
Oscar Alva
So thanks for having me.