Clever Angle
Helping people find work that they love through the stories of others. Join host Tevin McGee as he interviews a guest from a different field of work every week to give the listeners a better understanding of what jobs there are in the market and the roadmap of how to get there. Come along on this journey as he searches for the answer to the question of is college in 2024 overrated? With the boom of online learning and swelling nationwide student loan debt Tevin is on a quest to better inform his audience of which career paths NEED to go to college and which paths may have a different way of achieving your goal. So if you are undecided on your future career or curious about a certain field and want to hear from people that are in the trenches of that career already then this podcast is for you.
Clever Angle
#46 Navigating the World of Media with Kaden Brown
Embark on an extraordinary journey with the talented Kaden Brown of Night Productions as we peel back the layers of his life's work in video production and event mastery. From the vibrant chaos of the fall wedding season to the demands of managing the company while his boss celebrated his own nuptials, Kaden's stories are a testament to the resilience and flexibility required in the fast-paced world of media. His candid revelations about growing up in Perigold, navigating a detour from college to various jobs, and his unwavering work ethic offer a raw glimpse into the determination that forges a successful career.
Peering into the heart of our profession, Kaden and I trade tales of our own personal metamorphoses—mine from high school class clown to a media professional shaped by competition and mentorship, and Kaden's evolution from Nathan's right-hand man to a video virtuoso and communication connoisseur. We traverse the evolution of creative expression, reflecting on the confines of traditional broadcasting and the liberation found in the boundless world of YouTube content creation. Our shared narratives underscore the power of perspective and the transformative opportunities birthed from embracing an unconventional career trajectory.
Finishing on a note of triumph and aspiration, we celebrate the accolades and goals that light the path in our videography voyage. Reliving the rush of meeting idols like Tim Tebow and discussing the unseen rigors of crafting content for national television stars, our conversation is a salute to the joys of self-belief and the relentless pursuit of improvement. Whether you're an aspiring creator, a seasoned professional, or simply a dreamer seeking inspiration, join us for a deep dive into the passion and persistence that drive the dream chasers in the world of video production.
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Welcome back to another episode of the Clever Angle podcast. Today's guest is Caden Brown. He currently works for Night Productions and we are excited to hear Caden's story and how he came to be to doing the work that he loves. I hope you guys enjoy. Yeah, so I've got Caden Brown here with me on the podcast. I am in the Night Productions studio. I'm back after two years. We talked to Nathan Knight, so I'll leave the link to his episode and the show notes Caden, how you doing, man?
Speaker 1:I'm doing great man. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm happy to be back in 2024 getting to talk to you guys. I know the audience can't see it, but the studio looks good. There's been a lot of changes, so I'm excited to get to talk to you guys. As I do with every episode, I try to do a little bit of research, and I was checking out your socials and checking out your YouTube, which is some things I've got some questions about. So I stumbled upon the what we've been up to video that you did. So what have you been up to? What have you been up to here in the last just few months? And then we'll talk about the 2023 recap after that.
Speaker 2:Man, the last few months have just we talk about it a lot up here it has been a whirlwind, man. You know how busy those fall weddings get and everything like that. And then Nathan had the great idea to get married right in the middle of wedding season, which love him for that.
Speaker 2:It was a cool little moment to take a break and then go shoot some more weddings that weekend and everything like that which he participated in as well, and yeah, that just that kind of sums up the fall wedding season. It's like this guy got married on a Friday and then had to shoot a wedding on Sunday, and so that proceeds to go throughout the months, and then we in the process of it all are trying to keep up with putting the brand out there and everything like that, and then also juggling getting ready for the new year and everything, and yeah, that's really what it is. It feels like just a constant juggling act. You're always just trying to keep the next foot front of you and don't lose it, don't miss a step.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Caden, can you give us just like a little bit of an elevator pitch about who you are, what you do for a living, so that the audience can get familiar with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely man. So my name is Caden Brown. I am recently 24 years old and I have worked at night productions for, in June, what will be three years, which coming out of my mouth, is absolutely insane to say. I primarily do video work here for Nathan, the owner of night productions, and I do a little bit of photography there whenever I need to and along with those responsibilities I handle like client booking and client communication and stuff like that. And essentially whenever people ask what I do at night productions, I just tell them I'm Nathan's right hand man. Nathan says to jump and I ask him how high. That's what I do.
Speaker 2:I grew up in Perigold for a majority of my life. There was like a year or two where I moved to the top of Mississippi for a little bit because of my mother's work. It was in like this olive branch South Haven area, but other than that, primarily grew up in Perigold. I graduated from Tech, like I said, and it just it's one of my favorite parts about what I do with night productions is, with Perigold being the size that it is, feel like everything is so just knitted together, like the community feels so tight and close and everything like that, and that's one of the best parts about what we do at night productions. We're located downtown so we're always helping out with all the events that Perigold's doing and it just feels we're just constantly running into the other people in the area and we all love the city the same way. And yeah, that's a quick synopsis of what I do.
Speaker 2:I just I help out around Perigold and do whatever Nathan night tells me to do.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you said you're recently 24. You've been working for night productions for three years. What did you do before then? And did you know that when you linked up with Nathan, that this is what you wanted to do?
Speaker 2:Man before I started working at night productions. To be completely honest, man, I had a lot of hardship coming out of high school and, due to a bunch of other issues, I'm a college dropout and I always wanted to do what I'm doing nowadays. But due to being a college dropout and everything like that, from age 18, I really didn't know how realistic that was because of the college stuff and I worked in a. I worked at Best Buy for a little while. Then, when Best Buy got hit by a tornado, I had to. I had to figure something out. That's my character has always been like.
Speaker 2:Just from a very young age, I had a lot of hardships dealt to me, but I always told myself I'd never use it as a crutch. My mentality was always like I'm going to work my butt off and I'm going to give it everything I have and then, as long as I do it that way, mentally I told myself I was like it's going to have to work out. Whenever Best Buy gets blown away, I have to go and I start running inventory numbers in a factory. Man, I'm working. I never thought I'd see myself in that position, especially whenever this is funny enough I wanted to play with the camera for a living. I'm like getting up at three o'clock in the morning and as a 20 year old kid you're like this sucks, but I'm driving to Truman and Jonesboro and Piggett Rector.
Speaker 1:What factory did you work for? I worked at Hillcrest Tool and Die.
Speaker 2:I was constantly just running the different manufacturing places and I'd have to go to the stock warehouses and everything like that in Truman and Pickparts and it was just constant running man. The entire time I kept up with my own. I'd like video and do pictures and stuff on the side with my friends and it wasn't an occupation, but I just wanted to keep doing that. I didn't want to lose sight of what I still wanted to do.
Speaker 1:So when you went to college. Was that what you were trying to pursue? Is that?
Speaker 2:What did you do to create media?
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to stop where you said I'm a college dropout. I honestly I have a completely different stance on college than I did probably 10 years ago. I completed college and I honestly wish that I wouldn't have. I think that there is a certain place for certain things that need a college degree, which is why I started this podcast. I got to the end of my college degree and it was one of those things that this is the culmination of your entire life. You go to high school and then everyone in high school tells you that you need to go to college. And then you go to college.
Speaker 1:I did my internship, I got out there into the real world and nothing changed for me. There wasn't this job that was going to be making six figures right when I got out and it just was like a awakening for me mentally towards like oh man, okay, every college degree is not going to lead to a job. I have a degree in health promotion and I reached out to my advisor, the guy that was over the health promotion department. I said, hey, I just graduated. What can I do for a job? I really want to stay in the area and he flat out told me that I was going to have to either go get my master's or I was going to have to move out of state.
Speaker 1:That was when I realized that, okay, there's a gap here between the information that you learn out of high school and when you get out of college. That needs to be addressed. That was my spark for wanting to sit down with different people on the podcast. Was we need to get more information out there about what's available? What can I do with them without a degree? Don't think of you not finishing colleges like some kind of failure or anything, because I think that, honestly, you made the right decision. If that's what you wanted to do, you're doing it now without a college degree, and it was interesting to hear your path to get to night production versus Nathan. That's cool, because I've come from a six years of working in a warehouse slash factory environment, so it does suck. It's one of those things that I'm glad that there are people that are willing to do that work, because it's definitely needed, but it's not for everybody. So I want to backtrack to when did you find your groove and figure out that you wanted to do something with a camera?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I mean, that was from an early age I remember being Before I was even a teenager. I wanted to make videos with I have two younger brothers and constantly wanted to just make videos with them, Us being stupid, us, you know, acting out stuff that we'd seen on TV shows and stuff.
Speaker 1:What were you using? What cameras are in stuff were you using back then?
Speaker 2:I think at the time this was like it was like a JVC, like camcorder. This was just like an old thing that my dad had in his office. Then I'm looking back I'm probably sure that I probably wasn't supposed to be playing with it, but me and my brothers loved it. It was just like we would just video each other saying different things or them singing songs or something like that. We would just watch that stuff over and over again. It was like I don't know, it was just fun, just maybe just seeing ourselves do that on camera.
Speaker 2:That transformed into ninth grade I go into tech TV, which is like a broadcast in journalism class at Green County Tech and Ms Andrews is the teacher there Pam Andrews and tech TV is like known as one of the programs around here. I think tech and nettleton have like some of the best like TV programs at the schools in the area and I learn everything there is to know about like TV and radio and stuff like that. And then we're constantly competing for the next few years and I really was passionate about that stuff but like I was a little bit, I was a class clown.
Speaker 2:So I didn't take it super serious and me and Ms Andrews which, funny enough, I'm very close with her now and I still commentate for her for tech TV to this day but in class in high school we did not get along.
Speaker 2:She would constantly have to get on to me and she was like you're not taking this serious enough.
Speaker 2:And now, having that conversation with her nowadays, she was like she would tell me, like you were talented and she's, and I could see that you, like, wanted to pursue this and she's like you had the ability to pursue this she's, but you didn't take it serious enough and she was like she's like to me, I didn't want you to throw away something that you would potentially really enjoy in this life. And I think about her a lot and she's one of those people that kind of guided me, because I lacked a lot of guidance growing up. My my mom's a travel nurse and me and my father didn't have the best relationship, a little bit of a troubled kid growing up. I wasn't doing anything stupid or anything like that, but I just didn't really care about it in school and so for her constantly getting on me and constantly pushing me in the right direction in this I did very well in tech TV and when we go to the competitions I would place well and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And because of that so what did it like a competition look like?
Speaker 2:You would go to these like we had some competitions in like Missouri and stuff like that. And then we'd go to hot springs and we would a lot of times, depending on what category you entered your team into, there was a broadcast class. Four of us would go to this room and you'd be given a script and then two people have to be anchored. One of them runs the camera and then someone's running the producer role. They're like camera one, stand by camera one, you're up. You know what I mean. You would do that. And then that gets shown to judges and then they compare it to other schools that are there doing the same script, doing the same production. Who did it better? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:And then there was like other things where you're given a prompt and you have to record a short film with the prompt you're given and stuff like that. There's photography competitions and stuff like that. It was just anything you could think of when it comes to like media. There was communications day at ASU. We would go and we'd spend the entire day at Arkansas State and they had radio announcing that give you a script that Trace Stafford said earlier in the week and you'd just read it off and you had to read the weather forecast and everything like that. And then, like I said, they're just comparing it to the other students from the other schools who did the same thing and then you get ranked on that and you get first, second, third, honorable mention, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So did you always want to do video, or was there other areas of media that kind of drew you during that time period? Did you ever want to be like a broadcaster or anything like that?
Speaker 2:So I'm a big sports guy and so, like I had a lot of interest in the sports casting area Like I said, I still commentate basketball, football, soccer to this day for Green County Tech Like I was really passionate about that. But there's a certain cap on creativity when it comes to that. You know what I mean. I'm just describing the game to a listener or a viewer. You know what I mean. And Tech TV was more broadcast oriented and me and Nathan have had conversations about this too. There was probably a day and a point in my life where I was like I could see myself ending up at KIT. You know what I'm saying and I'm thankful every single day that I didn't, because not because I don't see that job as fun, but it's like to me there's a certain level. Like I said, there's a cap on the creativity you can have in that role.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you almost have to be like in a box. You have to be in a box and they want everything that KIT is going to put out is going to have to be within that box.
Speaker 2:And, like I said, man, I'm telling you if I would have completed college, there's no guarantee that's not where I would have tried to take my career. You know what I mean. So perspective is a big thing. I base my life around Like I try to have a positive perspective on everything. So I look back on being a college dropout at that time was like the worst thing that's ever happened to me, is now my biggest blessing, because now I'm able to do whatever I want with Nathan, allows me the opportunity to, like you said, I make a YouTube video every week, dude. You know like I can do whatever I want with that. I get to go and shoot these weddings all year and, you know, give these people back their wedding day, something that they're going to rewatch over and over again and, you know, at the end of that day I've made, I've become friends with that couple.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean and I just there's nothing surprises me with this job. Like I swear constantly I tell Nathan I'm like you literally never know what to expect when it comes to this. Like we filmed with Tim Tebow last year and then we helped Mary Beth out with her American Idol stuff, and it's like I wouldn't have done that in broadcasting. You know what I mean. It's been very like pigeonholed. It's get the story, go get some shots, do a voiceover, turn it in. You know what I mean and I don't want to say that's all you do there, but I'm saying like that's very, like that's the buttoned up version of it. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely and when. So you said that one of the low points at the time was being a college dropout. When did you start trying to kind of approach it from that gratitude perspective, like when did you start to think, okay, it's going to be okay, it happened for a reason?
Speaker 2:Man I had, like I said, I just had this mentality that I was like you can either take that and you can be like this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life, or you can take it and I'm like, okay, I'm going to work my tail end off and, regardless of my situation, I'm going to try to reach a goal. You know what I'm saying and that doesn't happen by yourself. I, dude, I can tell you I'm very good at being lucky, like I have really good people in my life. There was a point in my life after being a college dropout Again, like I said, the family situation was very rough.
Speaker 2:I end up being homeless at one point and because of the people I surrounded myself with, I get taken in, honestly, right around when COVID starts and, thankfully and that family it was actually one of my best friends, alexander Lathun, his family takes me in and they put that mentality into me. They're like you've had a lot of mishaps up to this point in your life. How will you use that to go forward? How will you progress? And I took that and I was like you're right.
Speaker 2:Like I said, that may have been the worst thing that's ever happened to me up to this point in my life. But how can I make it the best thing that's ever happened to me, which then I start working towards this? I work that job, like I said, the manufacturing and stuff like that and I was like I'm going to save half of every paycheck until I can afford to buy a camera. And that's what I did. I spent more money than I've ever spent on anything in my entire life up to that point. I'm like a mirrorless camera. So then once you do that, you spend all that money, you're like okay, you got to use it now, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you got to get the lens and with my brother being in photography, I know sometimes the lenses are more expensive than the camera. That's, you put all the chips on yourself and forced yourself into action, which was cool. So when does your story intersect with Nathan's?
Speaker 2:So that is again, like I said, one of the things I look back on and I'm just really good at being lucky and me and my friend that I just talked about, alexander LaFoon, we go on road trips with our other best friend, trevor Thomas, and we video everything. We make like a little cinematic piece after we get done with that trip and photos and stuff like that. And we've been to a lot of cool places, but the coolest place we've ever been, in my opinion, is we went to the Pacific Coast, the Pacific Northwest. We went up to Oregon, took some of the most beautiful pictures and videos I've ever seen in my entire life and throughout time me and Nathan have intersected a few times. I was just stoked.
Speaker 2:I thought it was so cool what Nathan was doing, because Nathan's my age, we had mutual friends and stuff like that, and when you see a guy like your age going out and doing it like what you want to do, that guy's the coolest person you've ever met. You're like dude, that guy's really doing it. So I just had a ton of mutual respect or I had a ton of mutual friends that would talk to me about Nathan and I saw what Nathan was doing. So I had a ton of respect for Nathan and we'd always like we were social media friends. We'd always comment on each other's posts and stuff like that, share it on our stories, but we had never actually hung out, which was like the funniest thing.
Speaker 2:And I take his not-production shirt that I bought to Oregon and I have my buddy take a picture of me in front of the coast of Oregon with the not-production shirt on and I post that and I'm shouting out not-production and everything. And I think how long ago was that? That was May of 2021. I've seen that picture. Yeah, dude, and it's like at that time, like I said, me and Nathan had never even hung out. So, honestly, I was like some may look at that and be like this dude's kissing butt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're shooting your shot man. You're like, hey, I'm trying to get out of here, show us some dedication, yeah, but obviously works because he texts me after I post that and he's long message.
Speaker 2:He's because I, as a small business owner, I'm sure that meant a lot to him, because Some dude bought a shirt from him and then took it across the country and during all these cool pictures he's posting, he has the. He wants to post that. That was the cover picture. That was the first picture on the slide that I posted and I Tag not productions in it and I shout them out and everything like that. And so he's a look, man, when you come back home, let's hang out, let's go do something.
Speaker 2:We end up at the same like party with one of our mutual friends and we're talking and everything like that. And he's hey, this, if you want the exact details, he's the movie that was out with the time. What was it, nathan? It was a Quiet place to a quiet place to was out. Nathan was like man, let's go watch that movie and I haven't seen quiet place one. And he's, okay, we need first. We need to watch the first quiet place before we go watch the second one. So we go to Alexander's house. Like I said, huge guy in my life, he picked me up off the streets, got me back on my feet. We're in his basement. We watch quiet place to or quiet place one with Trevor. He's there and man, that movie ended at 10 o'clock in his basement. We were in Alexander's basement until three in the morning just talking about life, talking about goals and stuff like that, and Nathan mentions Granted, at this time I'm still working that manufacturing job, getting up at three o'clock every morning and Nathan mentions to me he's man, if you ever wanted to maybe come help with a shoot with the team or help out, just let me know.
Speaker 2:I would love for you to come help out and I like this is so. This is such a crucial part for me. Like I looked at Nathan and I was like, if you tell me you'll give me a spot on the team, I'll go put my two weeks in tomorrow at work. Like I will quit my job and come work for you full-time. And Nathan laughed at me, just to him. He was like there's no way, this kid's serious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's gonna go quit his job that's providing for him right now and just dive in. That's what I told him. I was like man, I'll jump into the deep end with concrete shoes and I'll find a way to swim. Just give me a chance. If you're willing to take a chance on me, I'll make sure you get that bet back tenfold. And here we are, three years later. I feel like it's worked out decent.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. It's funny because when you and I met was probably around like when you had just started. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I remember that early on, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get a spot on the team, and then what happens after that?
Speaker 2:I'm just like Every moment of free time I have, I'm spinning it up here at the studio. Like I said, primarily video is what I came on for and I just kept asking for more, for more from Nathan. I was like, let's do this. I'll go on that shoot with you. The photography shoot that you don't even need my help on, I'll go with you. I want to learn the ins and outs, like it was something I was truly passionate about and it's there was nowhere else. I'd rather be then like Doing what I'd finally always wanted to do. It was a dream come true for me.
Speaker 2:When Nathan has said this before, like when we've talked about this, nathan had never had someone Come on brand new and just consistently want more. I want to learn more. I want to learn this part of the business. I want to learn this part of the business. And six months after I joined the team, I I had taken over the work phone. I was like, yeah, I'll handle that. I come to him. A few weeks later and I'm like, yeah, I'll make a YouTube video every week. And it was just like For me I look at it like I Couldn't get enough of it. You know what I'm saying it was just like I said.
Speaker 2:I was finally doing what I'd always wanted to do, and for me and I tell Nathan this consistently too it's. There's not much he could ask me to do that I wouldn't be willing to do for him because of what he's done for me. You know what I'm saying? There's yeah, I owe a lot to Nathan. Nathan's given me the opportunity of a lifetime and that's why, still to this day, we butt heads all the time. We fought like brothers. You would think that we were Literally brothers, because we go back and forth all the time and we don't always see eye to eye. But there's not anything I wouldn't do for the guy because of what he's done for me.
Speaker 1:So take me through your last day at the factory. How did that feel when you walked up?
Speaker 2:for me, like even when I was there, like I said, my mentality was always like it doesn't matter what I'm doing, I'm gonna give it 110%. Very, I was very respectful with them because, even though it wasn't what I wanted to do, like you said earlier, I'm so glad there's people who are willing to do it. You know what I mean. It just wasn't for me. But when I went to my my Boss at the time, whenever Nathan gave me the opportunity, gave my two weeks, they were. They asked. They're always interested what are you? What's going on where you head to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you and it's I'm gonna go start media, I'm gonna get in, I'm gonna be on a media production team here in town and they know me. I'm a very personable guy. I've never met a stranger, I'm always friends with everybody. So they knew what I wanted to do because they knew I went on road trips and stuff like that. They're like oh, that's really awesome that they're like that's what you wanted to do originally, right? And I was like, yeah, this is for me at the time an opportunity of a lifetime.
Speaker 2:And so they were happy for me and, like I said, I put them on two weeks. I wasn't just gonna dip out on them, I was gonna be respectful about it. And they were Very accommodating, they were very awesome about it. They were like I did Maybe three days of that two week notice. And then they were like if you want to start going full-time to that opportunity you have, we're fine with that. We have you covered that. The way they handled it to me meant the world, because I Was glad it wasn't a bad ending.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely, and coming from somebody that has managed people, it always sucks to lose a really good employee, but at the same time and you want that employee to be able to do what they want to do, because when they were there working for you they gave it their all, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And to me, like Just them being understanding and like wanting the best for me, that meant a lot to me. And To answer your question like that, when I walked out, like Because it was a morning and I remember, I walked out and got in the car and I was going straight to the studio, and I'm telling you, man, like I'm sure there was probably tears shed, you know, like just happiness, like for me it never felt realistic, it never felt possible, because I did it for, let's see, I dropped out of college in 2018 and I started not productions in 2021. That's a long three years. I, you, somewhere in there, you, you imagine you probably want to start losing hope and and so maybe somewhere in there I did, but just like, whenever it finally came, it came through and then just, I Don't know that that first day after was probably insane. It was probably super surreal to wake up and be like I'm going straight to the studio, I have nowhere else to be but the studio.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it was awesome.
Speaker 1:It's so interesting that you said that that was a long three years, and I think about this a lot how Time and the way that we perceive it changes as we get older. So like when you're five years old, an hour seems like an eternity because you're only five, or a year seems like an eternity because at that time a year is like 20% of your life. So when you're 18, 19, three years is a big chunk of your life. I can definitely tell you that as you get older, you start to See time differently and things like that. So when you came on to the, how many other people were on the team?
Speaker 2:At that time, alex and Anastasia were on the team. I was coming in, nathan and Alex interviewed me and everything like that coming into which I knew Anastasia from school, anastasia went to tech with me and they what did the interview look like? The interview looked like these two couches, the one you're sitting on. They were over here and I sat on one couch by myself and Nathan and Alex absolutely grilled me for about 45 minutes, really Grilled Nathan's over there pleading his case on the side. But I Was put on the spot for quite a few things. They're like, let's say, we wanted to film a commercial, so I had to come up with ideas on the spot and everything like that. But I think I did well. I got the job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because at this point, when you're doing the interview, had you had already put in your two weeks at this point I had to do the interview, which because here's what happened.
Speaker 2:So the conversation I have with them is on a Thursday. The Factory I work at we don't work on Fridays. So we in the conversation on Thursday night or I guess Friday morning at three o'clock and and Nathan tells me I have an interview that afternoon. So I show up for the interview that afternoon. I find out later that weekend that he's we're gonna go ahead and bring you on the team. You got the job. So Monday I go in. Within a span of four days. I go on Monday and I'm like, hey, I wanna play my two weeks and then like I said by that Wednesday or so they're like hey man, we appreciate everything you've done for us.
Speaker 2:If you're ready to move on to that next opportunity, you're free to go.
Speaker 1:So at this point, how much experience do you have outside of like Tech TV? Do you have a resume of things, of projects that you've worked on, or is it just like you got your camera that you said you were saving up for, and what experience do you?
Speaker 2:have at that point I mean at that point, we go on which is funny, like maybe some people may not be able to use this as a resume, but as a bus on these road trips dating all the way back to like around the same time I dropped out of college, like 2019.
Speaker 2:And right before I got brought on, I actually helped a mutual friend of ours film a video of his brand new TRX, which at the time, dodge just released the TRX and everything like that and we filmed like a little hype reel for the new truck and everything like that. And it did well and Nathan had seen examples of what I was able to create and stuff like that, especially the truck reel that I made was shot and turned around in three days, I think. And Nathan will tell you like that was something to him. He was like, okay, I've seen he's able to be given. A client can come to him, give him an idea of what they want. They can shoot it, have it turned around and refined in a matter of days. And also, at that point, I did a lot of photography. I had an Instagram page dedicated straight, directly and solely for my photography. He had that to look at and he had several examples that he was able to look at and be like, okay, this guy's obviously very capable.
Speaker 1:So that was part of the grilling session. It was just picking through the stuff that you had done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it most definitely was. And what would you do in this situation? And let's say, a mother of a bride says this about the wedding, or something like that, which, funny enough, I had been to maybe two weddings when I got hired at Not Productions, and that was my biggest concern. To Nathan, I was like man, I don't know a whole lot about weddings. Not a lot of my family's gotten married and obviously I'm 20 at the time. Not a lot of my friends have gotten married at that point. So I was like I don't know a whole lot about weddings. And he was like don't worry about it. Nathan's like I promise you you're very capable. He's like I'm gonna show you how we do it and fast forward now. I do 40 wedding videos a year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's crazy that that's happened in the span of going on three years, now that you were able to do that.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of time put in, it's a lot of weird hours and then, even when you leave the studio, you crack open the MacBook at home on the couch and finish it, or you're constantly watching videos or something like that, reading Reddit forums about what you can do better, and it's a lot of hard work and sacrificing personal time. You know what I mean. But that's easy when you're passionate about something. Super easy when you're passionate about something. You can't get enough of it. Like I was saying earlier, Absolutely so.
Speaker 1:One thing that I personally have a question about is being someone that is in the space of creating some stuff with the podcast and things. One thing that I want to work on in 2024 is learning how to be better on social media, create, like, some short videos and things like that. What is a budget setup that you would recommend to somebody that wants to get better just on social media? Obviously, I'm looking around. You've guys got the Sony cameras, like the YouTube videos that you guys do of what's in your camera bag. Those are some of my favorite videos to watch, like I'm obsessed with just like tech and stuff. But if you're somebody that has like an iPhone or a ring light or something like, what is a setup that you would recommend to somebody?
Speaker 2:Man, it's not going to be the most fun answer and people honestly get kind of frustrated whenever they ask that question, and this is the one I give them. We live in a day and age where the some of the best cameras you'll have are going to be in your pocket.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The iPhone is dude. That's what I shot on Before I bought the camera.
Speaker 1:I shot almost exclusively on my iPhone and it's that's honestly the answer I was hoping for. It's just like how do you utilize that to be able? To create something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, they get better every year. Man, it's crazy and, like you said, I'm a tech guy too, so this I think it was the 14 that came out, the iPhone 14, man, it's 52 megapixels on the camera and I'm like that's nuts, that's stupid, but it's the most convenient thing. You already have one. Almost everyone has one. Tiktok is crazy. You film something. You could film what you're eating for lunch and it could go viral. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:We live in a day and age where, if you want to create, there should literally be nothing stopping you from creating and it's If you have an idea, you have the means to execute the idea. Do it. A lot of times, man, we live in such a easy creative world where, a lot of times, the only thing preventing someone from actually going out and creating something is themselves the fear of what other people think, or something like that. Or they think they don't know how to do it. It's, yeah, pull out your phone, video what you had for lunch, or video you and your friends having a good time, and then post it and it's, you're totally able to do that. And then my advice is do that.
Speaker 2:Hammer that If you sit there and you create with your iPhone. Maybe you want to do like a daily vlog, create with your iPhone for a year and absolutely know that camera in and out. You know exactly what you're capable of with that camera, with your phone. And if you get to the end of that year and you're like man, I've done everything I could possibly do with this, I've tapped out on the potential. Then consider maybe purchasing, like a, your first mirrorless or something like that. And that's only if you find yourself in a position where you're like I think I want to parlay this into another field Like you don't want to show up to someone's wedding day and film their wedding on an iPhone, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But if you're just creating for yourself and stuff like that, you're more than able to do that with your iPhone. So, like I said, get to know your phone camera in and out, absolutely master that, get to be able to do that stuff in your sleep, man. And then when you finally reach that, when you think you've topped out on your potential, sit there, do some research and you're like I think I would be able to execute like my creative desires at a higher clip if I upgraded to another camera.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I definitely think that we can go down the rabbit hole of looking at the newest camera, looking at the newest piece of gear, and for me it's like looking at new microphones. Thinking, I need to upgrade, and a lot of it could be just controlling the environment you're in. You can make the microphone you have sound good, but it's just this constantly leveling up thing. One during COVID, a thing that I was really on a kick about, learning more about as far from a tech perspective, was like custom built PCs I was.
Speaker 1:I gained from time to time, so I was like man, I'm going to get me this PC with this and this and yeah, it's hard to you're quickly not satisfied with what you have and think that you always need to be in this pursuit of more. So, with night productions, who handles the social media for you guys?
Speaker 2:It is a joint effort because we're all creating stuff and we all have like different things we've shot or like edited and stuff like that. Allie may have a really pretty wedding portrait that she's taken and she wants to post that, or a senior or something like that. I may have a real. I may have a real from a wedding that I've shot and edited. That I'm like this is great. I need to put this up, and the same goes for Nathan. It's really, it's a conjoined effort. It's really everyone like help out, like hey, if you have something to post, make sure you post it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you said that you are in charge of the YouTube right. What are your top three tips for shooting YouTube videos?
Speaker 2:My top three tips for shooting YouTube videos easily. Consistency you can throw up anything. You know what I mean. It doesn't have to be like the most perfectly crafted masterpiece every single time Because, one, you're not posting enough. Two, you're also not getting better. If you're not shooting enough, say you come out and you shoot once every three months and then spend a lot of time. You will make a really good video, but you're also, you haven't done anything in three months.
Speaker 2:For me, if you're starting out, quantity is better than quality, and then, once you get to a point where you're finding your stride, that quantity turns into quality. That's my first thing. Consistency Two would just be creativity. If you have any idea whatsoever, come up here to the guys or go to who you're shooting the video with and say hey, I want to try this man, I've come up with ideas before. Where I come to Nathan, I'm like hey, let's shoot a commercial for an air tag and you, me and Alex compete against each other, and then we come back in 24 hours and we react to each other's commercial. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:That's cool. I would definitely watch that. Yeah, that's what.
Speaker 2:I'm saying I think what you could do if you would just put yourself out there, like sometimes it doesn't have to be, like I said it doesn't have to be a cinematic masterpiece.
Speaker 2:You can just have an idea and then come to your guys and then just execute it, and that, to me, that's the biggest thing when it comes to creativity. Just, I feel like sometimes we just cap ourselves on that. We're just like go through the motions and stuff like that. So I guess my third thing would be really pushing it out. If you're just going to make a video and then just post it and not say a word about it, then you're going to look at those which I think sometimes views can be overrated. But if you post a video and then you check on it and it's gotten three views, what's your fault? You didn't let anybody know about it. You know what I'm saying. Like, again, I think we live in this world where it's like we're afraid of what other people will think about it, and I think a lot of times that kind of caps you on what you're capable of.
Speaker 2:Man, if I made a video and I'm going to post it this week on Thursday at 6.30, I'm going to blast it all over my story, I'm going to let everyone know about it. I'm going to send that link in my family group chat. You know what I'm saying? Like, hey, go watch this. I made this, I'm happy with it and I think it's good content. Let people know about it. You know what I'm saying, so.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so one of my questions that you said family group chat. One thing that I've noticed about creating is that it's almost easier to get strangers to support you than people that are like close to you, family and close friends. Is that something that you've dealt with or is it something that everyone's just supportive of for it?
Speaker 2:Funny enough, Nathan has like a theory on this and I think he calls it like the dip theory or something like that. He's even with night productions Whenever he comes out and he's hey, this is my business, night productions Really on the graph, everyone's super, super interested.
Speaker 1:They're like that is so cool.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, bro, can't believe you're doing that. Props to you, man. And then, as time progresses, the hype goes like this and you'll have your, like you said, there's a few people who are like, hey, man, that's awesome what you're doing and everything like that. And then, as you continue to do it and people will touch back on, like they'll touch back and see if you're still doing it, if you're still doing it, all of a sudden you, that graph starts to rise again and you've reached this consistency. Oh, this wasn't a fad, they're still doing it. So then people will then buy back in. Yeah, it's a mental thing, cause you see that dip and then you're like that was fun while it lasted. People give up and they're like man, I guess it was fun, I gave it a shot, but then if you keep doing it, like I said, you'll find that like next gold mine of like people are like oh, he's serious about this, he's actually committed.
Speaker 2:So for me personally, granted, my friend group like they all, like they're, like they're they always loved the videos, cause I'd make the vlogs like of us being goofy and joking around with each other and stuff like that. So my friends were always involved in the video. So when I'd send that to them, they always loved to see themselves in the videos. My friend group just seemed to be invested in it because maybe they were participating in it. However, I will say there have been people maybe I considered friends who thought it was cool at first, but then, like you said, they come back and they're like oh, it's cool, you're doing this. You're like, you know, I was doing this. I told you about this a while ago and it's now that you see that it's succeeding and it's starting to be a more consistent thing. You want to chime back in and be like man I was riding from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I just finished a book and it's called essentialism. It's by a guy, greg McEwen, and it's basically the pursuit of less things but better. So the whole theory about it is that we focus our energy on so many different things and we only make a micro movement and all of these things versus just focusing on one thing and making strong efforts in that one thing. And I suffered from that with the podcast for about a year. I did it really consistently. Then I got a new job position. When I was the warehouse manager, I was working, not getting probably 70, 80 hours a week, wasn't able to be as consistent as I wanted to, and then when I came out of that role it's like my love for podcasting I was able to look up from the weeds. Finally I was getting caught back up and then I was like, oh, this is what we were talking about. That was my dip. And now I'm trying to get back on that path of consistency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, a big mental anchor, for sure, is easily to find. So, to build on what you said sometimes less, but more right. Maybe you don't have the big crowd cheering for you whenever you do your thing, but give me the consistent crowd over the big crowd that dissipates every single time. For me, man, I want to make content and I want to do my job in a manner that makes the people closest to me, or the people that matter to me the happiest that could be any given couple that I'm doing a wedding video for. As long as they love the video, I don't care what anybody else thinks. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So if Nathan is proud and happy with the content I'm providing the client.
Speaker 1:I don't care what anybody else thinks.
Speaker 2:If Allie enjoys the wedding day that we shot together and she's happy that we are a team working together, I don't care what anybody else thinks my fiance Mallory if I'm still leading a life the way I should be and she's proud of what I'm doing, with the work that I'm putting out, I don't care what anybody else thinks.
Speaker 1:You know what?
Speaker 2:I'm saying Give me the consistency. Every single time I could care less about the flakiness, the up and down, like you said, someone chiming in two years later and being like, hey, it's cool that you're doing this. My best friends, my coworkers, my fiance, have been telling me that for the last two years.
Speaker 1:So I know that Absolutely. So let's dive into what year? Let's recap 2023. What are some of your favorite things that you did in 2023?
Speaker 2:Man for me in 2023, again, not productions to me, I love it like it's my own. So any kind of growth, we see different opportunities and stuff like that. To me, that's the most important thing. Like every single year, I'm just looking for us to take that next step. You know what I'm saying. Like I mentioned earlier, we were able, we had the opportunity to shoot some content and feature, like Tim Tebow was in it. That's for me, that's a stellar dude. That's right around my age. When I was getting into college football. I thought that dude was Superman. Fast forward all these years later.
Speaker 1:Did you get to talk to him or?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, me and Nathan both. Now, does he remember who we are? Probably not. But me and Nathan had the opportunity we were maybe one of or two of maybe 10 people in the room because they cleared out everybody to go to the auditorium for this event we were shooting. And he came up to all 10 of us, shook our hands, asked us our name and was like what are you guys doing? We're like, oh, we're videoing, we do this here in Paragloude. And he was like, oh, that's super cool, Nathan Caden, it was super nice to meet you. God bless you. You know what I'm saying. It's not a real communication, but it's to us. That was stoke Me and Nathan after.
Speaker 2:We played it cool in that moment. But, like I said, we're the same age. That guy walks out of the room. We're like we should have a conversation with Tim Tebow. Bro, that's nuts, that was super cool. We're very good friends with Mary Beth Byrd, who was a very successful singer on the Voice. She did well on that a few years ago and then we've done some content for her since the Voice and we've really enjoyed working with her, and then this year she had the opportunity to compete on American Idol.
Speaker 1:I watched that season.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she's incredibly talented. It's ridiculous and because of our friendship with her and the work we've done with her in the past, she comes to us earlier this year and she's would you guys be able to shoot this scene for an episode coming up that will be featured on American Idol? And me and Nathan were like yeah, it doesn't matter If it's at 2 am, we'll be there. That's of course we would. I don't know. That was super cool, like we were on the phone with the people from I guess it was at LA, like we're on the phone with them and we built this entire set with lighting and everything like that and like a three-camera angle set up, and they were like, can we do it?
Speaker 2:in the other room, not a word was said to me and Nathan was like, absolutely yes, we. Can we tear down that entire set and we move it over? To have you ever seen a radio booth?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's super compact, not much bigger than Ali's office over here, and so we then take all that lighting, the three-camera angles, move it to a radio booth that also has two people in it and we set that all up. And again, we're still on the phone with the people from LA and we're sending them pictures and stuff like that of what we have, and they're like that's awesome, we love it, let's shoot. We shoot for probably like an hour and a half, after we'd been there for two and a half hours, setting up the first set, breaking it down, setting up the next set. You know, we ship all that footage off to them and then we would just wait and it was like, like I said, it felt like forever. But then, man, you can go on Hulu and watch this past season and watch that episode and we're freaking out because we know we shot that. You know what I mean. So that's cool that some of our works been featured on a nationally televised show.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I actually checked out Joe's YouTube channel and saw that saying I was like I remember that episode where they were talking to her and there was issues in the booth and things like that that's awesome, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:And it's like I said, it's obviously like some people could look at it and be negative and stuff like that. But like for us and our team, we are like, dude, if you had told me two years ago, hey, you're gonna shoot something that's gonna be featured on American Idol, we'd be like, no, we're not no shot. You know what I'm saying. So for us it was a cool opportunity. And then with the wedding side of things, I think again, second year in a row we were able to shoot 60 plus weddings as a team. We got to go to Montana shoot some really beautiful stuff out there for that wedding and it is just for me to continue to have the consistent work that we've had over the last two years.
Speaker 2:And it was like I don't know, man, it's just a really crazy life. Like I kind of, when I reflect on the last year, when I'm making that end of the year post, you know, like wrapping everything up, man, it's such a stupid laugh, it's so silly. Like it's like I'm just super thankful for the opportunities that we've had over the last year and it's like there's no and there's nothing else. I'd rather put all my effort and time towards and like just get what I get out of it. You know what I mean. It's just, it doesn't feel like a job, it's just like. It's just so fun, I don't know like it. There's nothing that compares to me. You know what I mean. So 2023 to me was just another year of proven that we can still do it. You know what I mean. It's we're still here, so what does 2024 look like?
Speaker 1:What are some of your goals for 2024?
Speaker 2:Man. Again. We wanna continue to build on what we have and for me and Nathan, how our relationship started a gamble. Me and him are not afraid of putting all our chips to the center of the table and betting on ourselves. If it doesn't work out, me and him live by this dude. He's the same way when it comes to this as I am. Like if it doesn't work out, it won't be because I didn't try my butt off. It's gonna be because it just wasn't meant to be, it just didn't happen. But I'm going to try my tail end off to make sure it happens, make sure it's executed properly and give it everything I have.
Speaker 2:So we have a lot of expectations for this year. We want another big jump. Like I said, we wanna still make sure like we're still here, we're still consistently putting out the quality of work that we know we're able to. We wanna continue to help out in like the community, the Paragold, like we've done over the years, and like just continue to have those friendships that we have. We have a lot of really fun ideas.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've seen some of the stuff we've been doing recently with the KP Sports stuff. Like we've kind of added on a branch to not productions. So it's the first thing we've ever done like that and, like I said, we're both big sports guys. We're getting into sports media and we've done a bunch of team shoes with the lights and the smoke and everything like that and those have done extremely well here in Northeast Arkansas and along with that, in my opinion, we've gained a lot of cool friendships with the coaches and athletic directors in the area and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:And we've gone to a lot of basketball games in the last three months. It's been absurd, and we've got a lot of basketball games to go to on the coming months and stuff like that. I think the big thing for us is we want to. We wanna make sure that this is like a sustainable thing. Like I said, we're gonna put everything we have towards this new branch that we have here with not productions. But if it doesn't work out, it won't be because we didn't try.
Speaker 1:So Absolutely Well. I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me share your story. It was really encouraging to hear where you came from and where you wanna go. Where can we get connected with you on social media?
Speaker 2:Man, you can follow our Facebook page and our Instagram page. Instagram is atknotteproductions underscore, and then our sports page on Instagram is atknotteproductionsports, and then Facebook just not productions. And then, if you wanna watch our, there's a link in our Instagram bio. But if you just wanna look it up on YouTube, that's gonna be not productions and you should be able to find all the videos we've made.
Speaker 1:And the last thing I wanna ask you. So what's the roadmap? If someone out there wants to get into the field that you're doing, what do you recommend and what are the steps to get there?
Speaker 2:The steps for me. I stand by for me and it's exactly what's got me to where I am is I don't think there's a whole lot in this life that's unattainable if you're determined and just willing to put time and effort towards it. For me personally, like I said, I've had a lot of roadblocks and there's been a lot of times where I can look back and I'm be like wow, I'm surprised I didn't give up. Then, if you're willing to and you're mentally capable of just persevering and having a better perspective on life, I think if you put your mind to something and you work towards it, that's a lot of. We live in a day and age where a lot of times people are like I want it now. That's just not how life works. Like we talked about earlier, it was a long three years. It's just. You have to put time, effort and work towards it.
Speaker 2:If you want to get to this part, if you want to get to this point in the field which, granted, I don't think I'm the top of the field or anything like that, but just to be participating and involved in this field go out, build your portfolio up. I've done a lot of free work. Night Productions as a whole has done a lot of free work. Don't worry so much about price when you're starting out. Sometimes a nice portfolio is better than a big bank account. Just don't be afraid of free work and build some friendships, connections and stuff like that. Like you and me, we've become very we've gone really far into this friendship just because we met at a little open house event and I was able to film you and your wife's day and I think of us as great friends. That's crucial in this field as well, having friends in the industry and a little Drake shout out there, yeah absolutely, and you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1:That's one of the main things. When me and my wife are getting ready to have our wedding day, there's nobody else that I would want to do the video other than you guys. I appreciate you guys having me in the studio once again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, thanks for letting me ramble.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely man. But yeah, this has been another episode of the Clever Angle podcast. All the links to the social where you can connect with Caden will be in the show notes and where you can find us will be in the show notes as well. And until next time, peace. I hope you guys enjoyed the episode as much as I did. If you guys would do me a favor, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast, Follow us on Instagram, follow us on YouTube. I would really appreciate it. Until next time, until next week, peace.
