Never Seen It Podcast

Never Seen It Podcast — Craft Episode w/Crystal Harrell

Episode Summary

We sit down with filmmaker Kent Kay, poet and producer Crystal Harrell, and musician and crew member Kurt Schawacker to discuss Name Tag, an award-winning short film that transforms a deeply personal poem into a powerful visual story about identity, self-worth, and belonging. We explore the creative process behind the film, independent filmmaking in the Coachella Valley, and the importance of making art with people you trust.

Episode Notes

On this episode of the Never Seen It Podcast, we welcome filmmaker Kent Kay, Emmy-nominated storyteller Crystal Harrell, and musician and production crew member Kurt Schawacker to discuss their acclaimed short film, Name Tag.

What began as a deeply personal poem evolved into a moving cinematic exploration of identity, visibility, self-doubt, and the labels we carry throughout our lives. Crystal shares the real-life experiences that inspired the poem, while Kent reveals how he transformed those words into a visually striking short film that recently screened at the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival (AmDocs) in Palm Springs.

We dive into the challenges of adapting poetry into film, shooting an emotionally charged project in a single day, and creating independent cinema with a small but passionate team. Along the way, we discuss filmmaking, storytelling, collaboration, creative vulnerability, and the unique visual landscape of the Coachella Valley.

We also explore the future of independent filmmaking, the importance of hands-on film education, and why aspiring creators shouldn't wait for perfect conditions before making their art.

Whether you're a filmmaker, writer, poet, artist, or simply someone searching for creative inspiration, this conversation offers a heartfelt look at the power of storytelling and the courage it takes to share your voice.

Topics include:

• Name Tag short film
• Independent filmmaking
• Poetry adaptation
• Creative collaboration
• Film festivals and AmDocs
• Coachella Valley filmmaking
• Storytelling and identity
• Film production and directing
• College of the Desert film program
• Creative careers and artistic growth
• Screenwriting and visual storytelling
• Making films with limited resources
• Art, vulnerability, and self-expression

Make art you love. Make it with people you love.

Episode Transcription

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Welcome to the Neveren It Podcast.

The only podcast called Never Seen It That's worth listening to with us tonight.

Mr. Arnie, the One Man Party.

Arnold Kalango is here, Mr. Daily Dares, aka.

Filipino Ggio.io, aka.

Alexo, The Brothers, Mr. Ghostnerd 88, aka.

Justin Holden.

And we also have returned special guest host

Miss Haley Starter is here with us tonight.

Welcome back, Haley.

Thank you for being with us tonight.

And we're doing something a little bit different.

We're doing a little bit more of a craft episode tonight.

Every now and then again on the show, we like to talk with people who work

in different parts of the media and industry.

We've had Mr. Guy Rfelch on the show, who's talked to us about putting on the Saturn Awards.

We've had Kyle Abson, the Burns Cycle who does the intro and outro music

and he's talked to us about his process for creating music.

We've also had writer, actor, director Gil Bronco, to talk about the process of filmmaking.

And tonight, a new set of storytellers need to talk about a movie that they worked on

And on this show, we're joined by Emmy nominated storyteller,

Crystal Harrell, award-winning filmmaker Kent Kay, and Best

Boy in the production, Kurt Shaw Walker.

Talk about their short film, name name tag, a

project that started as a deeply personal poem and evolved

into a powerful cinematic exploration of identity, visibility

and the labels we carried through life.

The film recently screened at the American D documentary and animation

Fil Festival in Palm Springs, and tonight, we're diving into the creative journey behind bringing it to life.

We'll talk about translating poetry into visual storytelling,

building a film with a small but passionate team, and what it's

like creating independent cinema in the Coachella Valley We' also discuss

the personal themes of identity, human connection, and the emotional

core that gives name tag, its haunting, and hard fil tone.

And with that, I would like to play a short clip from the film that we will watch right now

I faced the world today, and nobody

knew my name, but it makes no difference to me.

I just wish I had a name tag so people could understand.

where I'm at in terms of who I want to be.

Hello, I'm misguided.

Hi, I'm selfelf righteous.

Hey there, they call me forgetful, but really, I just don't care to remember.

That's a little taste of my favorite part from the short film that I watch.

So, Crystal, welcome back.

You and Kurt have been on the show before.

Welcome, Kent.

Glad to have you guys back.

But yeah, tell me, Crystal.

I mean, I know I know you know where that that scene is from, but uh,

what context can you provide for that particular moment?

Well, I'm actually kind of glad you picked that clip.

It really was a whirlwind of a shoot.

Um, you know, essentially we shot name tag in basically a day

And it was really, I am a

novice when it comes to acting, especially in front of a camera.

So as a writer who was literally

speaking my poetry versus out loud, getting into the emotion

of a scene and kind of getting into that same headspace

of where I was when I originally wrote that stanza.

So that scene in particular was shot, you know, in a bathroom.

Kent was setting up the mood lighting and helping as well.

But it was literally me staring at a mirror, making myself cry.

So those are real tears that you're seeing

you know, just trying to go back in to

that headspace of where I was at when I originally wrote those lines.

And I think I was about to say the line, you know, I've rehearsed

apologies for things I never did.

So really the core theme of name tag was

kind of that exploration of identity, the names we give

ourselves, the ones others give to us

And I could not have done it without these two here with me.

And it really was the dream come true seeing my medium

of poetry translated to such a visual narrative

that people really gravitated towards and it

was received very warmlyly at Amoc, and it

was literally a dream country scene that come to life and it was impossible

without either Kurt and Kent's vision.

Well, congratulations on that.

It looks amazing.

It sounds amazing amazing.

What was you said this started as a poem first.

What inspired the poem?

I'm curious about that?

Yeah.

So I wrote poetry,

you know, originally as a way to cope.

And as an art, I've been writing poetry since high school.

And I wrote it during a very transitional part of my life.

I had just gotten married.

I just started my very first big girl job

and just kind of getting into the flow of,

you know, coming into my own and having life

come at me all at once adulting, you know, meeting new people,

having new experiences, facing new challenges, and

just kind of feeling like, you know, you, you

aren't enough or, you know, worried about the way others might perceive you.

And so I kind of wrote name tag as, you know,

um, there's a line in it, you know, I, I wish I had

a name tag so people could understand where I'm at in terms of who I want to be.

I really like that line.

Thank you.

There's another line you have.

Where does you say something like, I'm done apologizing for being in this space.

I can't do it justice.

You doesn't apologize for taking up space.

That one.

That one.

That one's great. one spoke to me personally because I'm like,

man, because I'm a very apologetic person even sometimes

for things that I've never done, don't have control of.

I shouldn't be apologizing.

So, yeah, when that line came up, I was like, yeah, okay, that that speaks me a lot.

You get it then, yeah.

And I was a very introverted person when I started my career,

you know, I was faced with very different social

situations and professional, you know, circumstances that I had never dealt with before.

And so, you know, writing that line really kind

of spoke to that, along with just the core thing of the poem.

And fun fact, I actually had to write additional verses

to accommodate the length of the film at Kent's

request because he was the one that actually approached me with writing

or creating a short film after hearing me read name

tag at different open mic events in the valley.

And he said it was very visual and he wanted to

go back and add a few more stanzas to it.

So some of it is original.

Some of them is the extended version.

So we found a way to kind of cohesively blend those stanz.

I might also add that the impact of that when

spoken line, a lot of these events is really incredible you guys said you connected with it as well.

It's

a blor the folks who

have come up with Crystal afterwards and obviously.

That was an question to me, was really stunning.

Wait, you're the husband?

jok I have a husband.

He's the I'm messing with

Best boys. isn't it?

Yeah, the

impact that Crystal's writing has had through name Tag has been really striking.

I'm super impressed with her as a writer, and Name Tag has been an

excellent success and something to build off of I'm a musician.

So there's plenty of little licks and tunes that I've come up with around a lot of her work.

And Name Tag was definitely a big inspiration

for myself, Kent and it's how this is going to be.

And I will say with Curt too, you know, he was the first one

to really hear, you know, any of all

of the feelings I was trying to articulate, you know, he's

been so supportive and it's scary as an artistist to put yourself out there.

You know, when you're writing something deeply personal and just

having that confidence to like, you know, share it out loud,

I've been met with so much support.

You know, women and girls my age and

just people in general have just, it's been really well received and I'm very thankful for that.

Alex

Yeah, so I just wanted to say I really connected with that whole

don't apologize for taking up space.

And I think that speaks a lot

to just being raised Filipino.

A lot of times, like we constantly apologizing

for things that even apologizing in advance

like you did in, like I was talking about in your short film.

I had just watched it today during my break and had a lot of depth to it.

And that's what I find so impressive that

like you were able to put in so much into like

I mean, poetry in and of itself is is something that's

supposed to be kind of like gripping in a short short span of time.

You know, you see like slam poetry and everything like that.

But even this, is like, I saw the length of the short.

It's like less than five minutes when you don't include the credits.

So it's and I just wanted to say too, that like,

I've known you for like, what, almost 12 years

and I'm very, impressed with you.

Like, I, I've always found you to be,

like when I first met you, you were this sort of

kind of unsure of yourself.

Like you said, you're very, introverted.

And, but all the times I always like

spoke with you, we'd work together

I found you to be somebody who had something, you know, important to say.

Thank you.

And I think that there was one moment I remember when

we were at Visit Oasis Comics for Free Comic book Day.

And you came to me about some sort of

project that we were working on together.

I can't remember the details.

But I remember you walking away and you had this

sort of this unsuredness about yourself, but you wanted to push through.

And that was like so, so endearing

to me that I saw somebody there

that wanted to like do something something big.

And I'm very like proud to have watched

you grow into where you are today.

It's like It's kind of like one of my children, you know?

See, seeing like you

flourish in the way you have, you know, working

into, you know, the local news stations and just pushing through.

And like now doing this short film, I think, and I just want to give you your flowers.

That's basically my, my, my, I don't haven't really have any questions at also.

Yeah, great people.

They helped me bloom and flourish.

So without Ken, without Kurt, without you guys, like, you were all part of that journey.

And I thank you.

That's so sweet.

Justin?

Yeah, so this is kind of a question for you, Crystal and Kent

to direct to you encircling back.

When it comes to you know, this scene with

you crying and all those big emotions that

you put to screen, you talked about a

headspace that you had to be in.

If unless it's like too personal,

if you, you, share what it was that

put you in that headspace and then Kent

what did you do as a director to

kind of bring that scene to fruition

to make it feel the way that it did?

Yeah.

So going back to that scene in particular,

like I said, it was a very whirlwind of a shoot.

So we would do a few stanzas

in one area and then we would go to a different area to shoot something else.

And so me

I knew the verse as well, but getting to

actually emote them on camera was new to me.

So going back to a certain headspace,

you know, I had wrote it, the poem itself about two years prior.

And

just, it was a mixture of kind

of going back to memories not only of the years before,

but also, you know, college, high school.

And, no, without really specific

moments, but just those feelings of inadequacy.

Or like, you know, you even mentioned it Alex, you

know, like wanting to do good, but kind of feeling helpless

in the situation or with people who maybe

necessarily aren't rooting for you

but, you know, you're putting your best foot forward.

So, and it it really is a culmination of everything in that moment.

And to prepare for that, it's like you're staring at yourself in

a mirror and it's like, you're kind of speaking to

your past self in that sense.

So for me, it was a very personal just kind of experience.

And I remember trying to get the tears it took, yeah, it wasn't an instant thing.

It took some time, you know, and so I know, I remember Kurt

was waiting around with the lights and Kent was tinkering

with the lights and he was just like, do do your thing.

And I'm like, okay.

And then like, I'm unearthing all these like, like last memories.

And it was kind of cathartic in a way, um, being able to express that that way.

So that was kind of my internal process for those feelings

and trying to portray them in real time.

I think about the gas prices and I cry.

I think that's my go-to.

I was an actor, you know what I mean?

Haley, you had something.

Yeah.

So I also dearly love this piece.

I'm also a big fan of poetry.

I've also been writing poetry since I was a kid, so I just really obviously connected with this.

And I, I know how excited I get when like one of my pieces gets picked up to be published.

I can only imagine the joy you must have felt like

times 10 to see it visually like come to life.

That's just, that's absolutely cool. um and

uh I also, what this poemem really connected with to me is

like feeling like your name tag is, I don't know, it just, is

that feeling of in your 20s, your identity kind of changes all the time

like your identity changes if you decide to take a gap year

and then you're okay I'm the student that goes to this school okay I'm

the person that's dating this guy or girl like this I feel like

it changes all the time and it reminded me of those little um like

what was it those little name tags with it's like the green all

the way down to the red being like, this is where I'm at today.

And and I feel like that's just such a,

you know, sometimes we, sometimes we need those, but at the same

time, there's there's such a relief in saying, it's actually okay if you don't understand me.

I'm just going to take it the space that I'm going to take up and that's just going to be what it is.

And you can perceive it or not perceive it, but I'm going to be here

And I just, I love everything about that.

So I did have a couple of questions.

I do have a question, well, for both Pa Lincoln,

I have my question for Kenny is, when you were obviously

going to these poetry readings, what did you see that,

what did you hear that, I mean, that made you want to snap up this opportunity and do it?

And then put Crystal, are there any other poems you have that

you would love to see, like, you know, come out in a visual way like

I didn't actually go to any poetry reading.

But I was there for

what I believed were the moments in Crystal's

life that spawned these stanzas that she wrote

kind of as like a witness, a fly

on the wall, as things were going happening.

And so there were some conversations that

her and I had as she worked through some of these situations.

But what how I discovered the poem is I didn't know she had written it

and I didn't know that she was performing it.

But after the fact of her performing

it, she posted the reading on Facebook or Instagram or something.

And so I'm just scrolling through, you know, death scrolling

randomly, going through whatever's.. and then Crystal pops up.

And then she's, I'm like, what is she doing?

She's in front of a bunch of people.

And so I started listening and she's reading a poem.

I'm like, oh, this this is cool.

She's reading a poem.

And then as she's reading the poem, I'm like, I'm living through the poem because

this poem was like, I was, I was

over here with the things that she was describing,

even though it was about her and her,

her life experiences.

So I could see in my

mind what my perception of was of what she was saying.

So to me

I kind of like filed this in the back of my mind.

Like, this would be a really good short film if the opportunity

presented itself to produce it.

And so a few months went by and, you know, Crystal,

you can finish that..

And then you ended up going back to school, you know, to get your master's.

And you did approach me about it.

And I I was like, oh, wow, that's super cool.

Yes, I'll do it.

And it was just such a

I felt like, you know, that was kind of a moment where it

became like such a collaporaborative process with you.

You know, you were my creative director and I was a producer, but we

were kind of creative equals, creating something together.

And it was really, to

me, it was so flattering that my words were

visual enough, you know, to conjure the

idea to, you know, make it into film form.

And I couldn't have struck a better director

because because, yeah, visually, Kent taught me everything I know

from the promo news side with just camera work, he's done

some very wonderful visual work and just to

see in the short amount of time we shot that, just you were even saying how visually like

um, you know, masterful it is.

And that's just kept, you know, that's just what he does.

Amazing.

Amazing.

Thank you so much.

I want to know, you said you shot this in a day?

That's.

That's crazy to me.

Logistically, how did, how much planning

went into, like, did you guys just say, okay, we're going to do it all in one day

and just, you just went and just go?

Or did you like plan it out?

And then, and then you did it and then it was done?

Like, how did that work?

How many locations were there?

Yeah, I'd love to know that.

I decided to get a second master's degree and in film and television production.

This was, I was in a class, a

a directing class.

At some point, I was totally that I needed to do a final project.

And the final project could be a short film of

about, you know, a short, short film, about five minutes.

It was at that moment that I said, uh, I need to do this.

And so I asked Crystal if we could

put this together.

And of course, she liked that idea.

So then I had to go through this process throughout the class that I was in.

It was an eight week class. of like free

planninging and storyboarding and doing a shot list and

defining which parts of

the poemem would be represented visually throughout.

And I knew that I wouldn't have a lot of time to shoot it.

So I really,

I picked one place where I knew I could could go over

here and shoot this and go over here and shoot that.

So there was one location that we could shoot three or four

different scenes in in addition to her

reading in like the black box look.

So, and then we did actually leave to go to

downtown Palm Springs to shoot one thing on the street there.

And then we went to a dance studio to shoot one

thing there, which I forgot a light stand and thank God Kurt

was there to hold the light because he was like this.

So, and then we went and by,

as luck would have it on Indian Canyon, the wind was blowing really hard at sunset.

Oh, yeah.

As it always is.

Yeah.

So we're like, Crystal, you don't have to do this.

And she was like, let's go do it.

And I'm like, okay.

And I'm like, by the, by the time we were done, I was

like, you don't have to do this, but she just kept on going for it.

So Was that the shot where like the sun, like she's silhouetted by the sun?

Yeah.

I love that shot.

Like, holy moly.

The ripples.

That is a really good shot.

I mean, it's a beautiful shot.

There's no lie.

Once you've got the sand in your boots, you might as well just go.

Yeah.

So the process with planning was I

I knew I only had her for one day to do this and I knew I had

to turn it in by a certain day and I had to get it edited.

So it was like kind of what Haley was talking about a little while

ago about you have only a certain amount of time to complete something and then

it's just this adrenaline of we're going to do this and we're going to do it this

way and it's just going to work no matter what, we'll make it work.

So

yeah, I wish I'd wish we'd had more time, actually.

It would be able to plan some more things out, but then it just expands into.

Yeah.

Was that like a 14 hour day, 16 hour day?

Hold on, how long did that did that?

It probably was from, I probably got there at 8.

I think she got there at like 10 and then we were the sunset.

We were done

Yeah.

That's great.

I watched this thinking, oh, they shot this over the course of

several weeks, months, but you're're telling me a day, like, that's impressive.

Belame me, all killer, no filler.

That's the news running gun philosophy.

You get it done a day or it doesn't mean anything and anymore.

There you go.

And it really feels like a short film, too.

Like, obviously, like it's structure around this poem, but

but you guys made it feel like like there's a beginning, there's a middle, and there's an end, Alex?

Yeah, I just wanted to say that like, it kind of

wreck, I'm a huge music video fan.

I grew up in that era of like MTV and

sort of like directors making

their way into actual like larger scale like cinema.

And I kind of feel like this being

a poem, it's kind of like a version of a music video that

he took this piece and applied it to the visual form

So you want to know what I really wanted to do?

What did you want to do?

I wanted I wanted to put her in all of

these places and have her recite the poem and I would cut, but that would have taken a lot longer

to do.

That would have been interesting too.

That would have been really cool.

But that would have been.

Yeah.

That's news to me, too.

Can you imagine being in the windstorm?

I'm actually kind of curious.

So how did you divide up like the

the work process, the workflow?

Like, was it mostly you, Kent't working on

the visual, like idea ideas, or did Crystal, did you pitch certain things?

Don't remember exactly.

Probably she did, yeah.

I think it was very organic and collaborative because I I remember

when Kent proposed doing a film.

You know, we touched base about what, you know, each stanza meant, what it represented.

And he sent me kind of a layout of what he had in mind.

But really, I was very impressed

with how, you know, how mindful he was with each verse

and how I could kind of see the visualization of it.

So I think with Kent's ideas, there

was really a harmonious quality to what I had written and I was just

full force into it.

And like you were saying, Alex, yeah, it felt like I had a

visualizer or like a music video, like going along with my poetry in a way.

And that was translated quite nicely, but it

was very, it was very much Kent's creative vision

that kind of spurred the look of it and just how organically fluid it was.

It is very just a music video like, isn't it?

Yes, actually,

I would say it's a music video without music.

And it works great, by the way.

It works so good.

Justin, you had something?

Yeah, I mean, like kind of speaking on like a music video type of vibe.

Kurt, um,

how did this project differ from

other filming projects that you've worked on in the past?

And what was your experience

you know, working on this film?

It helped we're a smaller crew, obviously of

three, but the team cohesion and the vision that

that we had for this right from the jump, it's it was

like having the answers to the test ready to go.

And the visual language that applied

to Crystal's words, I thought was pitch perfect.

I for a lot of it, I'll bet I was the dumb charming muscle,

but I was so happy to hold the hot light,

you know, burnt pans be damned, and get the shot.

You know, you remind me of a much, much nicer, less toxic guest on.

I'll make it.

I'll pick it'll it.

Beauty and the Beast?

Oh, man.

I want to give Kurt his flowers because he's a very humble person.

But he does have a background as a musician shooting music videos.

And when I was learning my job as a promo producer, I didn't know how to assemble any lights.

And I still don't know how to assemble someone lights, you know,

but he taught me with his rigging background, like

how to, you know, disassemble, you know, LEDs

and, you know, all of these different names for like, you know, these tools.

And it was so cool to have him in this process because

it's very different from the shoots I would see you go out on like shooting

bands like in garages, you know, banging on drums and you were part of a different process.

A lot of it was live music, so it was one take.

You had one shot to get it right.

So it was so refreshing working with Kent.

And, you, it's like, we got to be a little more choosy about just different inflections and certain angles and things.

That was that was a treat.

Normally I have one go at it and if it sucks, it sucks.

It's great, it's great.

You know, Kurt, I think actually, you probably should have had a dual

credit as assistant director also, because you

there were moments where I'm trying to like move locations

and get gear to one place or the other, and you

were very helpful in helping Crystal realize

that an intonation that she probably should be, trying to focus on.

And I I just

I think if I were to do it again, I would probably credit you

differently, but I really liked calling you with the best Boy, so that's why.

We did do a few dry runs before it went into it.

That's another thing with it, only being one day.

You have very little rehearsal time.

So we did do a couple of dry runs where Crystal

would act the whole thing out and I'd be like, that kind of works.

Maybe try it a little like this.

So there was a bit of a prep beer before we met up with you and did the final shoot.

Oh, okay.

I didn't realize that.

And you know that scene in the short film where I'm kind

of those scenes where I'm kind of talking to myself, where there's like this

imaginary version of me so Kurt would act as a stand in.

And it was, I love being

part of people I feel comfortable with because like

if I had just some random person saying mean things to me, like,

I'd be like, but like being with people that

I trust and like, reassuring and kind of elevating

it, my performance, because I'm not an actor.

This was a very new experience for me.

So just being vulnerable with people respectful of the words and the art.

Yeah, Kurt was a great help for those kinds of scenes as well.

I like that you mentioned that because you have to have a clear eye line and

you guys did a good job of doing a good squat and I put on my best meaning of depression.

Haley, you had something?

Yeah, this is, and any like three of you can answer this.

You know, I'm always curious of just like the high and the low, right?

Of course, there's a million things in between that are all important as well.

But if you had to pick like kind of the high of the shoot and

the low of the shoot, maybe the low was like horrible wind or something, you know what I mean?

But yeah, just, just your personal high and low of the experience I would love to hear.

I luck can't go first.

The high and the low.

The high for me was that it was actually getting done.

I didn't really have a

low point, but I I was concerned.

There were some moments that I was really concerned for Crystal's safety

when we were out in the.

No, really, I was because I was like, if something in your eyes,

I'm not going to be able to ever, ever recover from having been responsible for that.

But I was also concerned for the camera.

So, yeah, I

wasn't really a low point, but I was saying I was like, I'm like, well, if it

doesn't work after this, then this is what it was made for.

But it has continued to go on and roll

since then.

But yeah, I was concerned for Crystal safety and the

fact that she was just so gung-ho about it, I

was worried that she might go a little too far.

But yeah.

You have a shot where Crystal's walking across like a,

what looks like a sand dune and the sun is glaring.

I'm looking at it right now.

That's beautiful that.

That looks like something out of dune or something.

Like, Where did you guys film that?

Where was that?

Was that the one Austin on Indian Cany?

Yeah.

It's the train station that was actually.

The train station is actually buried in sand.

So if I had turned the camera around, you would half

the train station would be underwater, but not water, but sand.

Yeah, that area is like the road pulls on like half the time

because it gets so windy out there.

The danger is.

Why don't they build a bridge?

Can we like lobby to get the city of

Palm Springs to build a flipping bridge and then.

Isn'tra?

It wouldn't it be that big of a bridge.

Isn't that Amtrak half a mile?

Because that's an Amtrak station, right?

Yeah no train to staying there.

Not yet.

You know what's funny is our cousin Donald, who's usually on the show, he was going to be on it.

I actually, he actually told me that he was going to

ride to that station once, but he only goes there like once a week or something like that.

I see tree trunks in the foreground in the background.

I didn't even realize there was trees in that area, but that looks really cool.

It looks like a forest buried in the desert.

Like, that's such a cool

shot.

Like, did you guys storyboard this at all?

Or were you guys kind of just on the day kind of like, let's find

a good spot to frame the shot?

Most of it was storyboarded

but that particular moment was

more of, hey, where can we do this?

And I was hoping that it would be windy and it was it

kind of just... worked out that way

because it's over.

And that was actually for me, the high point of the shoot.

Like, I know that safety was a factor, but I was gung-ho

because I just saw how like cool it looked.

Like the wind was a great actor.

Like, people in the film festival

were asking, like, is that computer generated?

Is that AI?

Like, no, no.

And if you're doing reference, Kurt and I, because we

were sharing the same car and we followed Kent, and we

were kind of caravanning around where he wanted us to go.

And he Kent went out first to scout it it.

And that dune reference, like you were saying, hit so real, we were just like

commenting, like, oh, he's like in the sands.

And like, Lisa you busy comes

back over with a B. He

didn't show up for a while and we were like, should we go after him?

Is he okay?

Wmed out.

But yeah, that was my favorite high

of the shoot, because it was sunset.

Kent planned it perfectly with the timing, the visuals.

I really had no, low point of the shoot, but

just the whole process was very humbling and but that I

would say that last shot we did, like with the stand and everything, I was happy.

I was, I was thriving.

That's a beautiful shot.

Justin.

Speaking of filming in the sand, I

remember when me and Alex got like

a crew together to shoot some promos for

Palm Springs Comicon in particular..

And we just went out to

the desert over by the Arco off of

uh, was it.

D Palm?

D Palm, yeah.

And there's exactly which ar There's this like patch of sand out there.'re like, yeah, okay.

We're going to, because we wanted to film like a kaiju Godzilla type of thing.

Oh, yeah.

And yeah, that was like the time, like there

was like only a couple of points in time where we're like, okay

we want to film out in the desert and we want to want people running around and stuff.

And we went out to the desert and my buddy had this like

really nice red dragon camera.

And the wind was blowing

so much that it started getting into his equipment and he was getting so mad.

I just remember him being so mad that like, he wasn't mad about anything else.

He was just mad that his camera was just getting infested with sand everywhere.

And then we ended up like later on moving to like

uh a canyon area, which is where we found with the rest of the..

It was uh, what was that the, um, um, it was behind the The bumping grind, right?

The bumping grind.

Bumping grind, yeah.

Oh, the bumping.

The one by the

The V?

Albertsons?

Oh, Vance.

That's what it is.

It was the Vons.

That's not the bumping.

Yeah, the Vaun's over there.

And I remember you listening.

Yeah, the Cochilla Valley surrounded by desert and all, like different patches.

So you'll have like a target and right behind it, there's a hill that people go hike on.

Yeah.

And then on the other side, there's a golf course and a nursery for someone on one side.

Didn't we end up using like the camera dispensary.pen.

And then glory to God.

We ended up using the camera phone because

my friend Augustine took

his equipment back to goal.

Yeah, they' like, we need to do something.

So, I mean, I can relate to like the sand not being the greatest thing.

Like, the scene looks amazing.

It really does the coloring, uh, the

editing and everything looks amazing, but I know, I

know how it feels to have sand blowing around electronic equipment and it's it's an awful.

It's everywhere.

Yeah.

That's why I hate sand.

Star Wars?

It's not there, no.

It's everywhere.

It's quarter.

It's everywhere.

Halley, you had something?

Yeah.

So I was curious because so I always

think the storyboarding process and the planning process, like you're

saying, the shot list is so totally fun.

But I feel like

when I worked on the short film that I did, there were some

things that I had planned that the moment we actually shot

it was or like, you took it back and you were looking at it, you were like, what was I thinking?

That looks, never mind. immediately, never mind.

Like, for example, the we had some, um, I

had planned this shot of like, sort of like a spooky, ghosty

hand, like grabbing a pill bottle to sort of be like, you know, maybe someone's addiction is coming back to get them.

But I was like, yeah, we could, that's really easy enough to.

We'remember, we're all just, you know,

seniors in bachelor degree doing this together and the person who's

like doing special effects is not like an industry professional, right?

And so I was like, no, well, we can totally figure this out.

And it ended up literally just being like a hand with like a black like medical

glove, like looking kind of wrinkly, just like ominously shaking

this medical bottle, like sort of in a girl's face.

And I as soon as I saw, I was like, nope, nope, nope, nope, never mind.

Never mind.

I took it back. get back.

We're cutting that.

We're doing something else.

So I was curious if you had had that experience on this shoot, if

maybe something you had planned, you know, you, like in the moment, you

were like, never mind, we're going to switch it up right now.

That's not going to work.

I don't remember one.

But, I mean, I've had that experience before,

but in this particular situation, I used everything we shot.

That's awesome.

I'm so glad.

That's fantastic.

Hey, you, you won the lottery.

That's amazing.

Justin?

Oh, yeah, Kent.

Quick question for you.

So after collaborating,

working with Crystal, do you see yourselves

working again together on like a bigger project?

Or where do you see yourself when

it comes to filmmaking in the future?

Are you doing planning on doing any more like indie films?

Or do you have something kind of in mind, goals,

aspirations that you're working towards?

You want me to answer that?

Is that what you're asking?

Okay.

So

uh, yes, Crystal and I I

recently finished a different project.

We shot this a year ago.

What we're talking about here, your name tag was shot a year ago.

I'm in the process of finishing

post-production on a thesis project for my MFA

and I volunte told Crystal to be the

script supervisor and producer for that project.

So, yes, we've worked together again.

And I could say with very confident

words that any project that I ever work on, Crystal will be involved in

some way or another, I will never stop dragging her into things

And I feel like I do that fairly often.

I wouldn't have been able to, I'm almost done with my MFA.

Like I just have to finish post-production.

But throughout that whole process over the last year or so,

I was doing a two-year program in one year because I didn't want to take two years to do it.

Both Kurt and Crystal were instrumental in

me being able to complete all the course work I needed to do because

I constantly was needing somebody to stand in for something or somebody

to model something or somebody to act in something.

So I've been constantly

roping them into different things.

As far as in the future after I graduate,

I would like, I'm in, I'm just thinking about,

like a 90 minute independent psychological

type of thriller thing that I want to do at a farm here somewhere in

the valley, but I don't have anything on paper yet other than a paragraph and that's not enough

Well, I'm glad you bring that up because I wanted to ask you guys next.

Coola Valley is such a visually interesting location,

and I think you guys did a great job of showing us little snippets of that.

How do you think the desert plays a role and not just in this film, but just in general.

Like, what do you see when you think about the Coachella Valley as a character?

Well, there's lots of different

places you can go for different types of scenes.

Anything from like post-apocalyptic

if you're out in desert shores to, you know,

living in the laptop of luxury over by the J.W.

Marriott or in Rancho Mirage or,

you know, hiking in the mountains or being on a golf course.

There's lots of different places that

can be really represented in a film and make it look

like it's, you know shot all over the place.

That's one of the benefits that we have here.

Like I was recently in England and everything is just a forest or a city.

And that's really the only chances that you have to

like make it up or go somewhere else.

And we have here on the Coachella Valley, we're very blessed as far as, um

locations at any rate.

Yeah, well, there's even some many beaches here.

Yeah.

That's true.

That's true.

I was going to how much water.

I' better than others.

I, for one, think the Coachle Valley

really needs a Perry Mason style neo-Newir film

Ooh.

That would really hit.

You know, the problem is that nobody wants to film in the, like the

big, like Palm Springs, a movie called Palm Springs, was shot in Palmdale.

It wasn't even shot in the Coachella.

Like, come on, man Arizona or something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The only other thing I could think of was like some mediocre TV show from

like 20 years ago that was shot in Palm Springs that lasted like all of three episodes.

There's so much character and texture to the valley.

You short film literally has more palm

Palm Springs in the big budget Palm Springs movie.

Yeah.

You know, it is it is pretty popular for reality TV.

We did have a season of The Bachelor out here.

I work in a hotelsels, so one of them hosted The Bachelor.

Bachelorette.

At new seasons, actually.

They came back the year after.

So we do get some reality TV in the They are best not the same as a good narrative story.

I hear what you're saying, though, Kurt.

I want to see a Chinatown set in Palm Springs.

You know what I mean?

It's like a Chinatown kind of story.

Like, forget it Jake.

It's it's La Quinta.

Like, you know, that would be like, Quinta I'd be like downtown Coello.

Dillon Road with, you know, going to be hanging out of the car, trying to, you know, save the person.

Let's go to Yellow Mart in Old Town Indo.

You know what I mean?

I would have loved to have seen David L Lynch film

a film. film movie that would have been great.

DHS.

In DHS

Yes.

No, seriously.

There's him doing.

There's a lot of like.

Go ahead. him doing Inland Empire, then he can do Riverside County.

Where

David Lynch movie would be great.

DHS is actually a weirdly interesting city.

It's like, it's kind of like the Compton of the desert, but it's also got like a lot of culture there at the same time.

I don't know.

Does that makes sense?

Like there's also like suburbia and like there's like all the hot, like the literal hot springs that exist.

And dollar stores.

Lots of dollar store

Lots of good burritos, too..

Oh, yeah.

Forever.

Some of the best pizza in Southern California.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I want to know, like, what's next for NameTag?

I mean, I are there, are you guys doing more of a festival run?

Like, what's, what's next, to tell us about that?

Like, surely you're going to keep going with this, right?

Or what's the deal there?

We've entered it in several places.

It's kind of a, it's

it's hard to find its place because it's so different than everything else.

And usually what programmers, when they're selecting films,

they want them to be like in, like they all have a certain theme, right?

And so I think it's had difficulty

in finding its place and I'm really grateful for Amdog for giving it that life

There's several other festivals that it's entered in,

but probably in a couple months, I'll probably put it on YouTube at some point.

Well, it's on YouTube, but I'll probably make it public.

Yeah.

And I wanted to ask you, Amdoc, I've never heard of the American documentary Animation Film Festival Palms.

Is that a new thing?

It's an international festival.

It's Oscar qualifying

and IMDB qualifying.

It's a a serious serious production from movies.

Typically, they bring, like the Palm Springs International Film

Festival and this film festival, AmDO, they bring in films from all around the world.

It's an international event

We had people, we were talking to from Ukraine.

They're making like a war documentary and just

all kinds of different, you know, stories from around the globe.

Okay.

And so does that mean there's a chance that we'll see your

film in the Palm Springs Film Festival at some point, possibly?

Or what do we think?

I don't think so.

Probably.

I don't think so.

Yeah, because I've never heard of the Amdog, but that sounds great.

And is that held in the Coachella Valley like at some point?

Like, okay.

It's at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

Nice.

Nice. is right next to the Palm Springs campus that's being built for College of the Desert.

And right across from my Alma Mater, Palm Springs High School.

Oh, yeah.

Pass by.

Does PS high still host some of the film festival screenings?

Yeah.

Okay.

And then what was the other one?

The Castle Theater?

What was that called?

Cavealot?

That's the.

That's.

That is That is a cultural center.

Yeah.

It used to be Camelot Theaters, yeah.

Gotcha.

I watched Pride and Prejudice there one year for the film festival.

And then one year I met Donald Glover at the theater,

on the main theater, just off the Strip.

I forget the name of that theater.

Oh, A guy in the motorcycle will tell you if you can hear that guy.

That guy's going to the film festival right now because he's very cultured.

No, but anyways, guys, yeah, that was

a great, anything else you guys want to share you want to talk about when

it comes to nameT, Crystal?

You know, I am very thankful that that it got to live this life.

I wrote something that was very personal,

you know, on paper and to have it such,

you know, so much support and great reception of it,

you know, people that I've just met coming up and saying,

oh, it really touched me or, you know, this, this, what you say, I feel the exact same way.

They could resonate with it some way.

That was really an experience that I'll never forget.

And like I said, I feel the same way.

I definitely want to work with Kent again, with any, any project.

It's like, you know, whatever you need, I'll do it.

Because it's when, when you work with creative people and

I love collaborating with people who are passionate about what they're

doing, whether it's art or music or film, if you're creating

and you get to work together, it's something so

fulfilling to me and 100% I'm on board with Andy

and all projects where I can work with these two.

It's been a fantastic experience.

We look forward to seeing whatever you have next.

Make art you love and make it with people you love.

Exactly

That's a great.

I love that.

Kent, do do you have anything else you wanted out to add about this film or just filmmaking in general?

I would say that,

so I used to work at KESQ with Crystal,

and I left that job to work

work on finishing, some school that I wanted to finish and focus on that.

But in that process, I started teaching at College of the Desert.

I'm an instructor there, teaching

film and digital design and video post-production and whatnot.

And I've found that

our film students really need more experiential.

learning in their lives.

They get a lot of

theory and reading books

and seeing examples of things on the screen.

And then they make their own projects with their classmates.

But I'd really like I'd really like to build something at

our campus because we're building a new campus in Palm Springs.

That's going to be all, you know, journalism, media, radio

filmmaking.

This is a massive $400 plus million project that

the city has invested in.

This is with the COD?

Yeah.

College, like a new campus.

It's huge next to Palm Springs High School.

It's a massive, massive project.

I. I think it's probably going to bigger the biggest building in Palm Springs.

Wow.

But I really want to build what I call

a film lab that is for COD students where they

work together in collaboration with industry professionals

to produce something at a level that can't they can see go on to

you know, international, you know, acclaim in some way.

So if somebody's watching this that would like to help sponsor

such a thing, I'm interested in talking to them, that's, I guess, what my pitch is.

Because I think our v students really need

more experiential learning opportunities.

There's more to life than just being in a classroom.

Although that's important for, you know, a degree.

But you, in film, as you know, in any other art

form, you learn, really, you learn from doing the work.

And so

I love that.

That's.

I think the problem these days is everybody's a consumer.

We need more creators.

We need more artists.

We need more people like you guys.

Write a poem, bring it to life.

Whether that's the film, whether that's through a podcast,

whether that's through whatever, like make something, you know, like we're always doing

this, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

You know?

And I love that's that they're making a whole new campus.

That's great.

Like, I didn't, I had't heard about this.

So, you know, let us know, whatever, you work on this.nderings

online if you want to add those in Broll and when you're editing, if you want Yeah, what's it called?

Is it just called like College of the Desert Palm Springs or?

Yeah, College of the Desert Palm Springs campus expansion, probably..

I feel like they've been talking about that for decades and they're finally.

It's built.

They're just They're working on the inside now.

They've already constructed the thing.

I need to go.

I need to go check it out.

If you want.

I can take some video for you.

I pass by it on my 2 and from work every day.

That'd be great.

Yeah.

Because every time I go back to the desert, which is rare, because

I don't really have much reason to go back to the desert, but on the rare occasion that

I do go back, I notice like, I look around and I'm like, wow, nothing's changed.

I know that in and-O's still there.

That doll store's still there.

But but then I'll catch something new.

And I'm like, oh, they have this now.

They have this now.

Oh, there's an Amazon delivery substation over there.

That's great.

There's probably like 30 of those by now, right?

There's probably like 30 Amazon DSPs just built in Cat City or something.

These are all esototeric references for our international audiences.

But yeah.

No, that's awesome.

I I think we did it.

Unless there's anything else you guys want to share about NameTag or anything else?

Just a quick note with that.

I firmly believe in being a lifelong learner.

So

I fully agree with what Kent's saying with, you know, College

of the Desert inspiring the next generation of creatives.

Kurt and myself are Studi alumni.

I'm currently studying my masters in film.

So I do have a passion for wanting to teach in the future.

And it's really inspiring to see creativity

and just community engagement with that next generation.

Well, that's amazing.

I hope you get to do that, and I hope you get to make more films, more projectss.

And, as you guys know, you're always welcome to be on this show

to talk about whatever movie you want with us or whatever project you're working on, and we'd love to have you back.

So please let us know.

I just want to say like one last thing before we ended it.

It's like you all, the three of you inspire me.

I love film.

I really do.

I'm inspired by film and I've always wanted to make my own.

I have many ideas up here and a few ideas

on my computer, not fully fleshed out, unfortunately, but you guys inspire me.

And I also dedicated this year at some point in time.

I'm going to make something.

I'm not entirely too sure what it's going to be, but I'm going to make something and you guys have

kickstarted that even more so.

So thank you for that.

I really, I appreciate your efforts because no

one else out there is going to do what you

do unless you do it, you know?

So I heard an interesting thing today that my

my boss at work told me he is, he thought I

reposted this video, but it was like this thing called, he was talking about how

being vegan and eating bacon.

And he was saying like, you know, he learned something from it.

He goes, you know, there's certain people who want to become vegan,

but they really, really love bacon.

But he's like, why can't that both exist at the same plane?

Like, be vegan most of the time, but still love bacon.

You can still, like, who cares?

Just do it.

And he's he was saying it's like That's your whole pass.

The whole point of that was, he's like, why wait to do

the thing that you want to do just for the perfect scenario?

Just do the thing that you want to do without worrying

like, oh, do I have the right equipment or do I have enough

have I learned enough to do the thing that I want to do?

Just do it.

It's that's like, I think that's, that was such a beautiful way to put it

Strange way to put it.

Go ahead and be vegan, but go ahead and eat bacon.

Yeah.

Take the movie without like having cure.

Eat the bacon, man.

No, I agree.

Eat veacon.

Eat bacon all the time.

And don't worry about equipment.

David Lynch shot inland Empire on a little handheld miniDV camera.

You have to say that in the David Lynch voice.

Come on.

You gotta shoot the film on on a DV camera.

And that's how you tell a story film...

On that note, I will say that

this is all you really need.

This is an iPhone 13 and Abs. There's

been advancements since this.

But there's a movie that is on Netflix right now.

If you go and check it out.

It's called Left Handed Girl.

Oh, I talked about that on the show.

It was shot on the.

I loved it.

On the Great movie.

Great movie.

That is proof of concept that you do not need to have the camera that you think you need.

You just need to have

a philosophy of making a film the way a film needs to be made.

It doesn't matter what the camera is.

So, you.

Amen, sir.

Amenen to that.

I wholeheartedly agree with that statement.

All right, gang, let's start to let's

go around the room really quick and just kind of give our socials and where can people find you and what you're working on next.

Crystal, I'll start with you.

Yeah.

So I am on Instagram.

My handle is the August VC like the month

I am also on LinkedIn. and

Facebook, ye old Facebook, as I like to call it.

Yeah, and I'm currently, I work

full-time as a senior promotions producer, but I am very much in

the freelance writing sphere and just continuously dipping

my toes into independent filmmaking.

So getting my master's and yeah, I doubt it.

Nice.

Thank you.

Kurt, where can people find you?

Oh, social media is a scary scary place.

But you can find me on Instagram at Shaw Shots,

SCH-A-W underscore shots.

I used to do a lot of photography.

Nowadays, it's mostly clipped from the metal shows that I play with my band.

And I am an event production rigging manager for Encore.

Can't speak too much about that, but if you're going to the Palm Springs Film Festival

Gala, that's my work in my teams.

Nice, nice, Ken.

I know you have a YouTube Jenna, but where else can people find you?

Instagram is Kent KCreative

KKC, not K a creative with a K. So KentK Creative

on Twitter and Instagram and Kent K

on ye old Facebook.

I teach.

So enroll in one of my classes so they don't get canceled, that'd be awesome.

I I'll be there.

Nice, nice.

Haley, where can people find you?

Mostly on TikTok.

I don't post a whole lot, but it's HJ Stard 09.

And I would love to do another short film.

soon, but my current project is I'm working on a debut

young adult fantasy novel and I have the first draft done, and now I'm just working on some structuring things.

So that's the project that I'm working hard on this year.

Nice.

Thank you.

Let us know when that's done.

Let us know when that's done.

Arnold, you're next, my friend.

Yeah, you can find me Arnie Caligo everywhere, on Instagram, TikTok.

Come on.

I'm on all the socials.

Arnold Caligo, like even on LinkedIn, can find me there.

I haven't posted a while on there, but

yeah, you'll find me doing my thing. cooking.

Mostly been doing a lot of private chef stuff on the side.

I'm also in the world of philanthy, you guys had

mentioned about raising money, hopefully for the that program at CD.

There's a lot of

lot of philanthropists out here and those, especially in that world, which.

So I feel confident that they you

guys that the money will be raised for that and I

hope that it will prosper and grow even more.

And so thank you guys for being on the show.

Appreciate you guys and

this was fun.

This was really cool.

And if you ever want to move Kurt up to a co-producer

and you need somebody else to hold the light, you can feel free to reach out to me.

I'm your guy.

I' I'm not very tall, so I don't know.

Maybe I'll wear some high heels or something

to give me a little edge.

I'll give you a box.

You can stand box.

If I had to just guess, her low of the shoe was probably holding up that hot light with his hand.

Just guessing.

Just guessing that' years ago.

Arnold's going to also make an angel donation of $1 million.

So we'll talk on for the show about that.

Uh, Justin, where can people find you?

Hey, uh, you can find me Ghost Nerd 88

for my art page, for my personal page.

It's going to be Shibs the Zombie.

Um Yeah.

Um, I'm doing things most of the time.

Uh, art stuff mostly on my Ghost

Nerd side of things, but hopefully

you know, some more things in the future, you know.

Nice.

Well, keep us posted on that.

Alex, where can people find you?

Everybody, you can find me at Daily Dares on

all the socials.

I have been recently picking up a lot more activity again.

I don't know how this works, but I'm

I'm on Deepop or people are finding me and I'm selling a lot of stuff again.

I've been shipping out.

So I need to add more stuff.

I have a lot more clothes

that I want to sell.

And you could IB chef in this as well, but I don't want to tell you where I'm at.

I don't want anybody walking to the

back of the shop, but I have been very,

very busy there, putting my head down, putting the work in, and

I am moving up in the ranks.

Nice, nice.

Well, thank you for that.

Yeah, you can find me, Boots Too Big on Letterbox.

You can find the show everywhere else.

Never seen a podcast.

Never seen a podcast.com.

We're on Instagram, TikTok Threads Boot Sky, Facebook

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We'd love to hear from you.

Subscribe to us on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, wherever get your podcasts from.

If you like the show, leave us com and leave us a review.

You know we'll read that on the air.

Big thanks, Mr. Kyle Ma and a cycle for the intro andro music.

You can follow Kyle on Instagram

selfies underscorenderscore pets.

Mr. thanks to HLP for the Arnolder music, which you're

to use tonight, but he wasn't a chance of special shout out to him.

And thanks for listening.

Any final thoughts from the game?

Crystal, you should share your favorite quote from the film.

I like that.

My favorite verse, I'll

end it on an uplifting note.

I think my favorite, my favorite verse is I don't I don't

know the names others have given me behind my back,

but I know my mother named me after Precious glassass.

Dr in bars.

Dr the mics.

I love that one.

That one's good.

That's the most relatable one to me.

Thank you, Crystal.

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