James Rolfe and the DVX100

How does James Rolfe compare to other filmmakers of the MiniDV revolution? And where does the Panasonic DVX100 fit into all of this? In this episode, we finally get into things. Digressions include the Oscars, interlacing, and horror films.
Thumbnail by the incredible Graham Stoltz!

[@lancebaylis3169]

James Rolfe and RedLetterMedia are both KZbin channels that came from a time when KZbinrs were legitimately trying to be film makers and not just... editors? Not meaning to make editing sound illegitimate, it's actually very important, but the range of video editing tools and accessibility of those tools has made it very easy to create in this space, whereas these early guys, some of them were actually making art rather than 'content'.

[@jonathanheuschen2028]

The thing is, to edit you need ... footage.

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

Editing is an artform!

[@rubberlover666]

James' "Board James series" is essentially a horror series. It's great. Yes, he should do more stuff like that!

[@kevinmajorca]

Shame he felt the "need" to create that ghastly AVGN movie instead of doing more inventive stuff like Board James.

[@johnnybensonitis7853]

Yeah, that series took a hard left turn into surreal horrorish territory that was fucking awesome. The Family Matters episode was probably my favorite, so funny and manages to nail the emotional, thought-provoking curve ball very effectively!

[@johnnybensonitis7853]

@@kevinmajorcaI hear ya, but hard to blame him for taking the time to make it while he was given the opportunity. Wish he'd make another movie that didn't need to be connected to the Nerd. Bet he could make one hell of a fucked up horror movie.

[@MrBarcode]

Board james was the best. That Mr Bucket episode was amazing

[@rachelwindsor850]

Even though none of his fans ever gave two shits about the "story" in those videos.

[@carlosantoniopaezcuba4494]

Fantastic video! On the subject: I remember that James had a video on his old cinemassacre website about a horror movie script that he was writing that he wanted to make after the AVGN movie, it was all about those ''neighbourhood watch'' signs that used to exist on suburban neighbourhoods, the ones thta a guy with a trenchcoat and a hat drawn on them. He wanted to tell the origin story of that guy. When I heard it, I thought, oh wow, what a great idea for a horror movie! And then not only did he never made it, I think he deleted the video on recent times. It really seems like the complete failure of the AVGN movie really soured him on filmmaking, he seems to be done with it all. Sad.

[@rayortiz313]

Its clear that he punched out of his movie directing goals after the disappointment of the AVGN movie. Making movies, especially a feature, and telling an entertaining story for 90 minutes is very, very hard.

[@holdingpattern245]

I'd argue that he even gave up on AVGN after the movie.

[@tyjuarez]

When James Rolfe was still in film school, his classmates shot a documentary about him where he said "I'd like to be the father of the short films like Edgar Allan Poe is to the short stories, cause I actually wouldn't mind going into a theater and watching like four short films rather than one feature." and that stuck with me because Rolfe really did end up becoming the progenitor of the modern format of short-form content we see across the KZbin landscape today.

[@bwlvideos]

very true, James was truly ahead of his time and changed the game forever

[@inzabuhd8673]

So true about older AVGN’s having legitimately great camera work

[@Trixiethegoldenwitch]

This was awesome. Very fun to watch and I appreciate the sympathetic perspective on James. You could see him as stuck in 'Philly' but it's more like James is heavily embedded in his hometown at this point. His company runs a huge convention every summer there, they recently bought and repurposed an old flea mall into a massive content studio, and there's a whole community of careers and families living in the area built from working within his brand. At Too Many Games I had the chance to meet James, who is intensely sincere and seemingly much more aware of his boundaries as time goes on. He LOVES being in that band, and I'd say it's almost exactly the same thing as the movie in terms of not realizing how different the meaning is for him than it is for anyone else; but personally, I had an amazing time seeing them perform at the show, just on the basis of who it was and the weird-ass songs they were making. How could I ever have thought I'd hear a cover of Touch from the Transformers movie, or Supersonic by Bad Religion, mutated to also be about video games??

[@Kudo716]

True. Regardless of what you think of his work critically, it's obvious James does what he does because he loves it. I have nothing but respect for that.

[@joe.bob9999]

This was legitimately an insightful & great analysis on James' filmmaking, thank you Dan Olson for bringing me here

[@MichaelO2000]

I don't know if YT recommended me this cause of my fairly recent interest in early 2000s camera or because of my lifelong interest in Rolfe's stuff, but this is very neat!

[@Webhead123]

As a nerd and "once-upon-a-time" aspiring filmmaker who happens to be almost exactly the same age as James, I can respect and appreciate his craft. I stopped pursuing filmmaking and film school back in 2003 for a multitude of reasons but there was something special about that era and of the indie filmmakers of the 90's that just doesn't exist anymore. Modern day "content creation" certainly isn't it and seeing much of what contemporary, popular media has mutated into sort of makes me glad that I changed course when I did. I don't think the kinds of films and creative expression I was interested in pursuing would fit into today's bizarre entertainment platforms.

[@ToxikBox]

Woah, only 400 subs? And it's a relatively recent channel too, hey this is fucking awesome and extremely well made and produced, good shit

[@thatevangarcia]

My people. People that have knowledge and nostalgia for the DVX100 AND James Rolfe. Well said. Rolfe is a unique character in the window of history of the democratization of FILM of the early 2000’s

[@WonderSparkPuppets1]

James was always more of a zero budget garage filmmaker, like many of us who went to film school with big dreams and zero cash. He never made the leap to working on films with bigger crews because his early success meant that he could just keep going at that same level and enjoy a money-making career. He continued to level up but stayed pretty close to his roots with every project (minus the AVGN film as that was produced by outsiders). I think the criticisms of his more recent work are valid, but I don't think we've seen many solo indie filmmakers continue the way he has. Most streamers burn out, but James just continued to do more and more stuff. He is more like Lloyd Kaufman. James is an auteur who is a celebrity at this point and continues to give his specific audience what they want.

[@D.S.handle]

I don’t like the part about not naming Weinstein. What’s the concern here? He won’t suddenly appear in the room and start harassing everyone. He is a part of history, a person whose influence in the 90’s is hard to overlook. He was talented at finding emerging filmmakers and producing successful films, mentioning that he was just good at campaigning for awards is an oversimplification. The fact of the matter is that there was an indie film boom in the 90’s and he was partially responsible for it.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

It really should be easy for most people who are actually into this content to acknowledge both the wrongdoings and the genuine talent of a person, no matter how problematic that person turns out to be. I mean, if we have to take that route, then the "Golden Age" of Hollywood might as well not exist because it was run by patriarches and authoritarians with all sorts of dirty dealings and networks of scandals.

[@TheT3rr0rMask]

It's overdramatic of them, acting as if verbalizing the man's name makes them guilty of the same sins. It's also problematic when you're covering topics from a historical perspective like these guys are.

[@Lanooski]

finally, an assessment on AVGN that's actually literate in film history and the ecology of filmmaking from era to era, and not just an excuse to shit on James Rolfe and his work. 19:53

[@Corrupt-R]

James is a pretty regular guy at the end of the day, I don't think there's need for deep analysis. He loves movies, games, and music. So he puts himself into each as he can and has a lot of fun doing projects related to them. Some are hugely successful, some receive a lot of criticism, and some are somewhere in between. At the end of the day he just does what he enjoys doing and hopes others will enjoy it too, but it isn't going to stop him if they don't either.

[@THUGSHAKERPRODUCTIONS]

Subscribing before this channel blows up. The host is very informative, I can tell he knows his shit, and I like the flow of the video. Halfway through I forgot the video was "supposed" to be about an early 2000s camcorder, and not a whole analysis about filmmaking as a whole, I was getting whiplash (in a good way) with how you guys bounced between topics seamlessly. Will be looking forward to watching more of your videos while I'm trying and failing to fall asleep at 3AM.

[@randez626]

I am reclined in my chair listening to this. Excellent

[@rowancooke7831]

Plus put these conversations up as audio podcasts. This was an epic podcasts. Absolutely loved listening to this. Soo fascinating. First time watching you.keep it up

[@CH-uk1il]

Huh, a KZbin channel that did this one video on Cinemassacre and doesn't post a video every time James brushes his teeth or something like some certain other channel associated with the color Red. Finally a breath of fresh air at last! Seriously that other channel was just straight up defamation and slander, even if they made good points.

[@Pundit07]

Not just that channel, but also *that* one particular subreddit. I’m sure you know the one I’m referring to.

[@CH-uk1il]

​​@@Pundit07 The[redacted]Truth? Ever want to find a fanbase more toxic than Fire Emblem, look no further.

[@CH-uk1il]

Oh and here's something: One of the sub reddit's rules is "no slander" HAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S WHAT IT'S FOR!!! Again, even if what they say is true, they act like total d**ks about it!

[@samexists5776]

I grew up watching James Rolfes vids and they really helped me understand how movies work. Same goes for RLM. Really enjoying this podcast. Also didn’t know the AVGN movie was hated.

[@anonamatron]

How could you possibly not know that people don't like the AVGN movie.... ? Have you literally never read anything about it? I avoided reading anything about it until I saw it for myself, and yeah, it's kinda not good. If he just made the Nerd.... the Nerd... instead of some sitcom/teen comedy character working at a game store with a bunch of people we've never heard of before... it might be okay. This was called AVGN, but it was something else.

[@samexists5776]

@@anonamatron I was in 5th grade when it came out. So i was WAAAY out of the loop when it came to its hatred. Ive seen it, and I thought it was aight.

[@Shamino1]

Unfortunately I believe that James put way too much of his creative self into the AVGN film and only since roughly the end of the COVID Pandemic has he really found it again. Getting married, convincing your wife that this is your dream, having a child, and paying the exorbitant film-permit costs to film in California (what a terrible, terrible idea) only for the film to come out to luke-warm reviews at best... It's a shame, because he was offered full tier credits on modern Godzilla films because the director is a huge AVGN fan. And yet, James declined. Only suppositions exist as to why that happened, but my inkling is once again towards a sense of family obligation superseding life passion. 'Board James' is the best proof that he's a truly talented visual auteur.

[@leocomerford]

7:44 To be fair, it was also partly because _Pulp Fiction_ was the next film from the director of _Reservoir Dogs_ (and one of its producers). Bruce Willis wasn't the only person who was crazy about Tarantino and believed in his box-office potential in 1993: _Reservoir Dogs_ was a sensation at the time.

[@glitchwolfe]

Love to see this pop up after I just spent the day making glitch art with the same camera

[@arino4u]

this is fantastic! keep up the terrific work!!

[@terrybennett4053]

I love AVGN, but after he made his movie I think we see why he is "stuck" on YT.

[@ReelFilm2016]

Hello guys, just stumbled upon your video and I watched the entire thing. I really enjoyed just listening. 😊 One thing has me curious though, I can’t figure out your whole set-up and and I am wondering if it was planned or staged in that way? The room you are in looks horrible, like a room where old video equipment goes to get stored away and the video quality seems closer to 720p than 1080. I promise, this is in no way a criticism, but the bizarre nature of the location has me curious.

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

You’re the first person to ask! It’s actually a set build, meant to evoke the computer labs of the early 2000s. I had some flats left over from other video productions, so I just repurposed them here. Was kind of going for an abandoned computer lab vibe. The video quality wasn’t on purpose though, that was an issue with some exposure settings, since I film these myself and there was nobody to keep an eye on the cameras. The image was super noisy and I think I also chose the wrong bit rate setting on the Sony camera. Hopefully that’ll get sorted out for future episodes! I usually shoot on Blackmagic so it’s been a learning experience with Sony.

[@ReelFilm2016]

@@ComputerLabHighjinks That’s really interesting. Whilst I don’t work in that industry, I love cinema and have a very keen eye for detail. I should have gone with my gut and studied film at university. But cool that you designed the space to look like that and I suppose it must have been nice to have someone notice. I hope your channel grows and I look forward to more videos. 😀😀😀

[@momo0451]

as a fan of mumblecore and a philadelphian... this was still a great and super insightful video.

[@alimarentertainment-music]

I bought a DVX100 in 2004 shot a bunch of short films. It was definitely was an important camera at the time for those into small indie films. I'm still trying to shooting stuff with it today since I just got back into creating videos and I don't have a modern camera.

[@user-ft4jo8ev1v]

Never heard of this channel but the loved the episode! So much interesting insight, plus made me strangely nostalgic for the early 2000’s. Subscribed!

[@futureg1rl]

i still use my dvx100b all the time, love that camera

[@JaycRam]

The problem with James is, he never evolved, technically or creatively. He's the worst creature of habit, when it comes to filmmaking. For the former: In 2019, he broke a record for himself, for how many DVDs he used to record the Majora's Mask AVGN episode (22 discs). It's insane to think, anyone would still be recording to disc at this point. For the latter: James is the same kid filming movies in his backyard. He never grew as an artist, and found anything of substance to say. I like James, but there is a reason he never found success beyond AVGN, especially in Hollywood.

[@NeoJesusYT]

I made a video a few months back that discussed a lot of AVGN's cameras and film equipment. It's cool to see other indie filmmakers doing deep dives into his gear as well.

[@ryanuriebuxton]

Im sure youre familiar with this but the panasonic DVX along with The sony VX1000 is very popular even to this day in the skateboarding world. One thing iv'e noticed with the DVX along with the HVX200 is you can re use tapes as many times as you want and itll never glitch on you.

[@shaun8062]

AVGN is the only reason why I chose to watch this

[@sakehump7536]

This helped me so much. I able to fall asleep so quick. 🙏

[@Gahoole]

Doug walker basically did what you said what james should do for the AVGN movie, 3 times. With no money. Say what you will about his camera skills but doug was a big hustler back then.

[@Pundit07]

Just because he was a “hustler” doesn’t mean that he was good and should get a free pass for doing it 3 times. That is literally advocating for the “quantity over quality” mindset. There’s a principle in art that goes like this: ideas are one thing, but execution is everything. You yourself admitted that his camera skills were no good, and guess what? He hasn’t improved on that at all to this day. At least James knew basic filmmaking principles like how to white balance, color grade, the 180 rule, etc. Oh and another thing: you claim that it was with “no budget”. In that case, why was Channel Awesome financially in the red then? You know, the thing that lead them to -scam- crowdfund $90,000 for that crappy game show?

[@Gahoole]

@@Pundit07 He should get credit for writing, directing, and starring in (all at the same time mind you) 3 of the greatest films in Internet History. Timeless classics produced on nothing budgets, in less than a year a piece and given to us for FREE. We should be thankful for him for what he gave us. And that's what you should do, shut your mouth and say THANK YOU MR. WALKER.

[@wormdriveshow]

AVGN is a big influence in our show. I love that you bought that camera for this video

[@powblockmaster]

Really great insight and analysis here. I love how you compare and contrast James Rolfe to the mumblecore filmmakers! I like how you guys point out how James is influenced by the 80s Blockbusters and that's why the AVGN movie turned out how it did. In retrospect it seems obvious but I haven't seen anyone point that out and I didn't make that connection myself. James wanted to make a blockbuster so that's his attempt at it.

[@Baldcafe]

This is really good stuff guys 👏

[@tfuenke]

Whoa great video, legit amazed you don't have more subs!

[@theretrogamer14]

12:55 hey man, the Bolex is a great camera! Not for large-scale but short films are great for it!

[@quite1enough]

wtf, $3,5k price in 2002 is around $6k today which is the price of Sony A9 III, far from budget friendly, not to mention how few people could afford it especially outside of developed countries

[@drpibisback7680]

Don't know if you guys are fans of Red Letter Media, but I think a lot of the issues you describe with the AVGN Movie are also true of their movie, Space Cop. A lot of internet moviemakers could make great Duplass Brothers-style movies, because their medium naturally incentivizes personality-driven small-scale stories and they get good at doing that, but Duplass Brothers movies aren't the kinds of movies that inspire people to make movies.

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

You raise a really interesting point! I think someone like Mark Duplass can have an aura of “outsider artist”, and not necessarily inspire a generation to start attending film school. Whereas someone like Quentin Tarantino makes movies that seem to awaken aspiring directors (myself included, many years ago), possibly due to how much he references pop culture and other movies. I haven’t seen the Red Letter Media films, but my gut reaction was that it’s a bold move to put their own creative work out there, having been so heavily critical of other movies based on incredibly rigid criteria. As much as I enjoy the RLM Star Wars reviews as rant videos, I never saw them and thought “here’s someone who wants to make a movie of their own!”. So I may have to check out Space Cop out of sheer curiosity. But you’re right, they’re similarly trying to make a genre movie with limited resources, which is an uphill battle without Hollywood financing.

[@ElectricMoonlight]

At 11:47, the question is asked why DV tape has a fixed framerate, and why can't you store other digital data like documents. I can answer the second question pretty confidently: seek times. By the time DV tape was a thing, the whole concept of tape drives as digital storage had pretty much run its course, the data retrieval wasn't speed efficient compared to other data storage mediums, and the wear and tear of moving the the tape back and forth to retrieve files would have made it unreliable from a longevity standpoint. I can take a guess at the first question. I imagine it's not that DV tape has a fixed framerate so much as the NTSC video format. Sure, the video was being recorded digitally, but in the mid 90s when DV tape first came out, television was still analog, and the DV tape manufacturers were expecting the consumers to create videos to be viewed on your average analog CRT television, so why make it compatible with video framerates that don't exist elsewhere? That's my guess, at least.

[@kennyadvocat]

The DVX100 was a very high end camera. You don't need a camera this nice to make a film. Lower end cameras will work fine. I prefer 30p over 24p.

[@aprofondir]

I don't really care if a movie is 'good' or 'bad' but rather if it was really trying to do something. James tried to shoot for the stars and for that I respect him, even if the end product wasn't up to Hollywood standards, nor KZbinr slop. I do think he would've rather made a horror movie instead of AVGN, but he just had to do a hail mary crowdfunding and thought AVGN was his ticket to Hollywood

[@gabrieleriva651]

You can actually store raw data on tapes. Magnetic tapes with digital data on them were used for decades since they were the cheapest form of mass storage available. A MiniDV tapes stored 14GB of data in the 90s, more than 20 times what a CD could store. Btw, later in the mid2000 there was the HDV format, that stored a 1440x1080 interlaced video on a MiniDV tape. I actually recorded a lot of footage with that format and today it holds magnifically if bobbed. It becomes basically a 1440x540 footage at 60frames per second.

[@gabrieleriva651]

Long lives my Sony HDR-FX1 😂

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Oh wow, so 14GB is roughly the amount they hold? I had no idea these could be used for raw data storage, or that HD video was ever happening on MiniDV. That’s honestly really fascinating and sounds like some sort of technical wizardry.

[@williamoverton7775]

the HVX200 was also great. I might buy one of those now.

[@JohnDoe-xj6mf]

James is a beast

[@OfficialToxicPlayground]

Excellent video... threw me off guard that you guys have so little subscribers. I'll go ahead and hit subscribe.

[@raulg22]

I love how you have to remember people you are on James side every 5 minutes; I'm a huge fan of James' work, but there is a lot to criticize about it. But it's all too easy to cross the line and come off as a hater when diving into those criticisms. BTW, congrats on getting picked up by the algorithm.

[@spookygangrecords]

I didn’t grow up on James, I had heard of him but at the time it didn’t really appeal to me cuz I just saw the name “angry video game nerd” thinking it sounded cringe in my late teens early 20s. Oddly enough I got into him through Rental Reviews and the monster madness videos, eventually the algorithm did it’s thing and at this point I’ve watched every season there’s something extremely nostalgic of a bygone era of the G4 tv shows that I enjoyed so much as a kid. I never read his book but the way he speaks about film honestly bums me out because you can tell he’s just trapped as The Nerd who is beloved but it was only supposed to be this fun project he’s long since lost the passion for. I know if he was able to make something outside of that universe it at the very least would be visually good, and it is such a bummer that the way people consume online content creators demands they get exactly what they want. He could easily make a low budget film and release it on KZbin in the same way people do with standup specials now, they’re obviously a viable option. I mean the board James series was great and probably the closest we get to an actual feature length horror film from him. If we could get something even close to that I think it would be great I get bummed out that his talents are wasted on something he’s clearly not passionate about, cringe aside I can at least appreciate that the band brings some sense of joy/fulfillment but I wish we could get a sincere film so bad because the talent/passion is there. Who knows maybe it’s been lost, but he made a one off episode speaking on a horror film idea he had but nothing ever came despite it catching my interest. I’m just rambling now but this video seems the best place to do it. I basically agree with everything you guys said, both criticisms and praises unfortunately the people in his audience are so black/white none of which involves him as a filmmaker but purely around the nerd character so it’s nice to see a discussion from that frame of reference.

[@meridiantelekoms]

James should remake his old home made horror films.

[@boikoboichev4875]

Why did it launch Mark Duplass? Because he had rich parents who gave him an interest free loan of $10,000. This is the only real reason.

[@pbpraga3963]

I think the problem with the AVGN movie is that rolfe tried so hard to pay tribute to his favourite movies, that he forgot his own creation. The AVGN is not there. Its a ghost of its former youtube self. And the script sucks. The other characters are trash. The girl and the black boy... who are they? The jokes, the pacing, the story...everything sucks. I think he really lost the opportunity to do something special. He couldve done a dramatic comedy about the nerd and his life behind the camera. Instead he made a horrible science fiction forgettable thing.

[@BigSexyWizard]

I mean I have to say Mark Duplass Is funny enough and good looking enough to sell. I liked him in the league.

[@kalancord]

As a fellow Toronto filmmaker, it feels so fresh to hear about the James Rolfe story from the perspective of his equipment and how much it shaped him, and once you see it from that perspective it makes a lot of sense why he couldnt adapt. Also, likely unpopular opinion, but a DVX100 in the right hands still looks great. Subbed😎

[@EduardoPortasRuiz]

On point with the video, the best AVGN episodes are shot on the DVX100. He has an episode were he confirms that initial push of his channel was filmed with that particular camera. For me it's a mark of better content vs. his newer episodes shot on more expensive gear.

[@James-Alai]

I bought this camera in 2006 when I was 19 years old. It cost over $2k. I loves that thing

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Hands down, this is STILL one of the best filmmaker cameras, even if it isn't HD. But it just has the amazing aesthetic that i never saw like this on any other camera. Similar maybe but never quite like that. And i think this camera has aged incredibly well in the past 22 years. I got mine in 2010 when everyone was trying to get rid of their non-HD cameras and jumping onto the HD train and DSLRs and paid probably 600 bucks for mine. Best investment i ever did.

[@beckyginger3432]

Came here from the folding ideas video

[@empireofdirtproductions6997]

Really great and smart video. It’s nice seeing people providing commentary on James and Cinemassacre that doesn’t involve immature insults towards him.

[@itsnouse-yourswillbeastill2562]

the truthers are nolifers who's stuck in the late 2000s. seriously its pathetic how hard their hateboners are. Get a life, don't build it around a guy who doesn't wanna please lot of whiners.

[@holdingpattern245]

@@itsnouse-yourswillbeastill2562 truthers like this video though

[@underdog2949]

this video was refreshing! Its always great to come across people who clearly know thier shit with film and give fair critique to someone without going into weirf psychanalysis on someone they clearly dont know personally. I 100 agree that filmmakers like james should not start with stuff thats so beyond high concept, they rarely have the sources to truly deiliver. I always go with the moto, "write what you know." I still think he has the potential to make something solid if he ever feels like going back to making feature films. you guys just earned a sub!

[@MinorMotionPicture]

The fact that there's a nearly 40min video talking all about James Rolfe, I believe that in a way makes him a success. I'd be beyond flattered if anyone cared to make a video about my sorry attempts and failures at filmmaking. I'm just another insignificant carbon copied nobody sinking deeper into this ocean of content. I was also around during the era of the DVX 100, but despite trying over and over, never went anywhere. I certainly feel like Sisyphus, not just in terms of my "Film Career" but in life in general.

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Honestly, I can relate! It's a constant uphill battle for sure. In your experience, would you say film schools during that early Digital Video era were more encouraging of people who wanted to become writer/directors? By the time I did film school in the 2010's, it was actively shut down by teachers, with the goal of graduating sound mixers and key grips and people who could generally pay the bills (which makes some amount of sense, I just have mixed feelings about it).

[@securityg]

You feel overwhelmed by this Sea of Mediocrity called Society. You have to pull yourself up because remember this; if it was easy then EVERYBODY would be doing it. Modify your artistic thinking, Go over imaginary budgets and then breakdown what you can do for your project. Reach back into the past and use the past to rejuvenate your creative process and business acumen. For an example; I'm utilizing different HD, SD and digital camcorders and my finished video-movie will be showing as a 4-Walling distribution method. I rent out a ballroom/meeting space and I project my video-movie. 4-Walling has been done in the past. Don't drown in a Sea Of Mediocrity. - James D Watkins artistic director of PHOENIX PRODUCTIONS.

[@SalveASMR]

Relatable.

[@MinorMotionPicture]

@@ComputerLabHighjinks Everyone’s film school experience is different. I went to the School Of Visual Arts in NYC and I absolutely loved it. Best 4 years of my life. I personally need an environment like that, surrounded by creatives all full of naive hope. Seeing everyone’s projects pushed me to want to do better. But to answer your question I graduated in 2012 and SVA seemed very accommodating when it came to wanting to major in writing or directing. They never discouraged it. I went in wanting to major in directing. But I made the choice to do cinematography instead because I thought to myself it probably would be beneficial to have a technical skill haha. Do I regret it, both yes and no. I should have majored in Editing instead haha.

[@lasarousi]

You can compare the entire human condition with Sisyphus . Almost everything humans do is futile and it's just about the individual clinging to their perception of their needs and how to fulfill them

[@LLAP2266]

This camera is definitely part of the charm of AVGN for me. Once James moved to a more generic(and 16:9) HD camera, it doesn’t feel the same. The same can be said for Always Sunny.

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Yes! Thank you for saying this. There is definitely such a charm to the standard def episodes of Always Sunny, particularly since the show is so grimy and gross-looking on purpose. Totally fits the tone. (Edit: spelling)

[@BradEXE]

Charlie Day agrees with you on Always Sunny's camera.

[@D.S.handle]

If only the writing was at the same level as in the old camera days.

[@Mother2IsTheBestGame]

And Trailer Park Boys.

[@MikeSandersonVideos]

And Simpsons

[@Kousaburo]

James now edits on a "PC computer".

[@bjorvy5097]

I love James. Even when watching AVGN as a kid, his cinematography and composition always stood out as very well-made and was really inspiring for learning to work on a budget and by yourself. I agree with basically everything you said in this video. I’ve been using the term “professional hobbyist” when describing him to others (in the nicest way possible, I respect the guy quite a lot)

[@StewieWilfred]

Cant belive i found a pod that aligns my niche interests in indie movies, video games, technology, AVGN videos, and canadian pop culture from the 2000s. It’s incredible to find someone who shares these interest and is dedicated enough to create a podcast about them. Great job, guys. It’s refreshing to hear some positivity about James Rolfe for a change.

[@l_unaSy]

Congrats on the Folding Ideas video mention kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGTKi4KqZrGiaqM

[@SIDEKICKDUSTY]

I've been saying "why doesn't he just make a low budget horror movie" about James since the Screw Attack days, and it's cool to hear someone else express that. Also, if he really wants to do big action stuff, he could try teaming up with martial arts or stunt people, even if you try for Police Story and end up with Samurai Cop, it would probably have decently wide appeal. I think he holds himself back with this "if I can't do it big yet, I'll keep waiting and doing internet videos" mentality, but he of all people should know you have to really make something happen if anything is going to happen at all

[@lancebaylis3169]

If you look at a lot of old television, and particularly from the British Broadcasting Corporation, many TV shows were designed to either be film or VT based largely on the type of show they were. OB (Outside Broadcast) VT production didn't really become a thing until the mid 1970s, and was widely seen as being too 'immediate' for drama, so it mostly got used for sporting events or news broadcasts where giving the viewer the feeling of being "live" was important, but for the most part most fiction shows opted for shooting locations on film stock because it created a sense of distance and 'art' that just wasn't there on videotape, and couldn't be replicated on video until relatively recently. In classic era British sitcoms (and old Dr Who), interiors were nearly always shot on tape as it was felt interior shots benefited from the immediacy of tape, while exteriors benefited from the depth of field only film afforded. There is a famous sketch on Monty Python's TV show where a group of characters exit a building, stand outside looking confused, go back in and declare "the whole building is surrounded by film!". This was making a joke of exactly this process, but it probably flies over the head of a lot of us. 😂

[@HPRshredder]

I am not a movie guy... But I am a gear guy. Nice concept for a podcast/video channel! Great audio. Also looking at the catalogue, congrats on this one picking up! As Red Cow Arcade would tell you: It pays to put James in the thumbnail, lol.

[@TheJacklikesvideos]

keep up the great work, HPR. Retro Odyssey series is so refreshing; hearing someone talk about games like an excited friend who just found it instead of a self proclaimed expert. great vibes and style that really bring me back to they joy of growing up with the NES.

[@VaughnJogVlog]

Interesting insights. When I was in film school the DVX100 was “the” camera at least in terms that it was a staple for docs. I would want a narrative to look better, but because projects were getting accepted into festivals with the DVX100 it gained prestige.

[@marcross.]

hey guys, no one's going to crucify you for failing to apologize on behalf of industry veterans like Allen & Weinstein. To detest abhorrent behavior is understandable, but to hesitate even uttering influential names without empirical downplaying is distracting. Regardless, very entertaining discussion discussion here 😊

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

As someone who has been SA'd while working as an actor I actually really appreciated the hosts acknowledgement. I'm surprised you found it distracting; was the opposite for me --- it let me feel comfortable during the video, knowing I was in safe hands who weren't going to suddenly go all shock jock or minimize the destruction wrought from the wrongdoing of others. Nothing formal happened; I don't recall a CW, they didn't make a big deal or pontificate, they just were icked-out & handled it like champs. They couldn't cover the material they wanted without referencing names of people/company they said they don't like to have to include. Seems legit + reasonable. It was rad of them to just acknowledge it & keep moving. It wasn't performative, at least that's not the vibe I got. Even tho our interpretations there differ, I'm glad you got a lot out of the video & their discussion too. I'm not sure why YT dangled this video at me but I was delighted within minutes of clicking & learned a lot & sounds like there was enough to make it worthwhile for you, too. Peace!

[@vvidover]

I bought a DVX100a back in ‘04 and it was a beast. 24p wth a 3:2 pulldown and anamorphic 16:9. I had a rule that you always used first run tape and never rewind the tape in the camera and it never let me down.

[@xavierspearsproductions]

This and Lady Emily's video on AVGN are really good on discussing problems with James and not just doing the whole "Bimmy 5:40 muh kids bald" thing.

[@AKPhilly]

I don't understand how you can hate James tbh. Seems like peak brain rot to hate someone who has brought so much joy to thousands

[@hellscream6970]

I'd say this is a fair and insightful critique of Rolfe. I've been a fan of AVGN since 2005, and I would agree he's been stuck in that style of content with an outdated approach.

[@arricammarques1955]

ARRI ALEXA + Carl Zeiss Ultra Primes. : )

[@pocketsuke]

This video is perfect. Thanks YT for the recommendation! Keep it up guys!

[@1UpBebop]

The DVX100 was to aspiring film makers in the early 2000s as the VX1000 was to skateboarders in the 90s. Revolutionary, market shifting, film tech that just so happened to hit the exactly right market , at the exact right time.

[@Takato]

IMO, peak James is his second and onwards seasons of Board James. Board James is great because it's James doing his stuff himself. Silly content, with a dip into horror here and there. No Screenwave shenanigans, no cameras taped to the ceiling alongside the lights, no need to rush for a sponsorship deadline... It's as good if not better than classic AVGN. Nowdays, he doesn't write scripts, he doesn't edit, he barely plays the games he's talking about, he streamlines shooting to make it faster, Mike, Bootsy, and Kyle don't help him anymore with script or shooting, etc. He also has a family to take care of, which is perfectly understandable, and I heard his wife is not too forgiving of not having his attention. So he has no time for good AVGN episodes, no time for Monster Madness, no time for ambitious projects like Board James... But he surely has time for his silly rock band, tho. I'm not a James hater, I appreciate what he's done for the internet as a whole, and I still watch every new AVGN episode that drops, but the state of mediocrity that AVGN and Cinemassacre are right now are mostly his fault. When you stop getting involved in a project that's mostly yours to begin with, it loses all meaning. That's why people are flocking to other channels like Scott the Woz or Caddicarus.

[@Andoonline]

While being great at camera work I do have to say over the years James Rolf has made some pretty bad camera purchases

[@kooljokez]

Those early videos are great and wish more people strived for something greater than week to week videos. But with how that changed in the early 2010s that aint happening too often. The critques of nostalgia critic are on point none of his stuff looks good. His movies are hard to watch Ill say the first is watchable at most.

[@frankzappa3834]

James Rolfe was one of my inspirations to get into filmmaking, it’s sad to say as an electric my skill set has far exceeded his. Still love his content, but man those shitty rigs really broke my heart

[@frankzappa3834]

And as a fellow New Jerseyan, being sandwiched between NY and Philly means we have so much incredible talent willing to work on any project. When I was cutting my teeth film school shorts in the 2010’s we would take the train and do casting on 8th Ave along with actual Majors and profession casting directors. He also went to Rutgers Newark afaik, which is within visual distance from Manhattan, so there’s no real excuse for him to rest on with who he worked with. His limitations are certainly from him being stuck in the Tromasphere, or being happy to make budget friendly horror rather than taking creative risks. He’s pigeonholed himself by keeping the whole control over his productions, but it’s provided for his family in a meaningful capacity. Who can blame him for sticking with what pays his mortgage and is raising his two kids?

[@JaycRam]

@@frankzappa3834 I also disagreed with their take on James being "out in the middle of nowhere". He's not. Philadelphia is leagues above someplace in the middle of Missouri, for anyone trying to get a film made.

[@Pundit07]

@@frankzappa3834 I see what you mean. That being said, there’s still a part of me that hopes that he can eventually adapt and have a “recovery arc” of sorts by being involved in a good horror movie. Oh well, at least he did better than Doug Walker in terms of skill, right?

[@tituslafrombois1164]

11:38 Tape is not an "analog format" as you say, the distinction between analog and digital is entirely on what you're putting on the tape. All magnetic tape can be considered is a linear storage medium. To this day magnetic tape is used in data center operations for its extremely high data density, modern LTO drives can store dozens of terabytes on a very long spool of magnetic tape. Tape has always been high density at the expense of being linear access - a MiniDV tape stores about 12GB, which was absolutely insane in the era of 16MB SmartMedia and CF cards it was born into, and why, despite DV video being digital in nature, magnetic tape was chosen as the storage medium. To answer your actual question though, it's kinda dumb but also not really. Simply put, the DV specification makes no accommodation for any frame rates besides 60i for NTSC and 50i for PAL. It was established as a *video* format back in the era where 60i/50i was the only language any television or display spoke, so they did not think it necessary to specify the ability to record in differing frame rates - the only thing the DV spec accounted for as "future proofing" was allowing for both 4x3 and 16x9 aspect ratios. So, while the Panasonic DVX100 certainly *could* have just dumped 24 progressive frames straight onto the tape, it would have absolutely broken compatibility with any gear that did not make specific accommodations for that. Any device strictly compliant with the DV spec would have only expected 60i or 50i, and would have choked on a natively 24p frame rate. Thus why Panasonic, in maintaining spec compliance, had to entomb the 24p video inside a 60i container - in much the same method of telecining actual 24p films for VHS or laserdisc releases in the days of truly analog video.

[@charliehunt6336]

I love this conversation and I’m now a subscriber

[@CorndogNinja]

Your "better film skills than his early-KZbin contemporaries" analysis of Rolfe reminds me a lot of BlameSocietyFilms and "Chad Vader" - I remember the way it was shot like a 'real' TV show and the high production values (back when even having a Vader suit that good was extremely impressive) made it stand out from a lot of simpler Star Wars parodies if the time.

[@Giantcaterpillar]

Dude, this was amazing!

[@infinitesmall]

This is such a high-quality video & discussion and I'm happy to have this as my introduction to AVGN lol

[@anonamatron]

So the format of this is a knowledgeable guy bouncing everything off of a guy that just says "ooooooh" and "uh huh" and "yeah"? Yeah, I'm halfway through the video and I think that dude has only said about seven words outside of variants of the above.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

I'm no filmmaker but I understand a lot of what's said here. My KZbin channel is small & I experiment with film techniques. I've long been fascinated by film making. In the early 2000s a college friend, who had worked in commercial production, wanted to do short films with me & friends. We never did but he was 1000% wanting to use film stock, had plans to build a film editing table etc. I was all"no let's go digital it's the future" partly because George Lucas shot Attack if the Clones all with digital; it was the 1st major film shot all digitally. I saw the potential in seeing the content while filming, ease of editing & effects, etc. When I started watching KZbin A GN was one of my early favorites. Never met James but I agree he does know his stuff & has a great eye for framing. I certainly know some of my videos have been influenced by his work weather I realized when making them or not. He's kinda like a Punk of the 80s was, great but ignored by the mainstream because they are not seen for their talent but judged only by a surface look at their content. Hollywood likely looked at James & thought "he does KZbin about video games...nope! Oh he made a movie? Did it do well? No? Ok moving on then..." Sad in a way but at least James still has control of his work without the studio meddling.

[@DylanPank71]

02:25 - as Alfred Hitchcock would have put it, there are three reasons: "the scripts, the scripts, and the scripts." you might not like the Duplass brothers films and shooting styles, but within the mumble core genre, they're fairly well put together and coherent narratives. When Rolfe did his movie it was just 90 minutes of cringeworthy audience pandering. Same is true of the Red Letter Media guys -I ove their youtube channel, but the Space Cop movie just shows they don't have it in them to make a feature narrative.

[@hespassed859]

I never do this but I wanted to let you know this was a very very well made video. So much thought went into analyzing James Rolfe and his unique position. I like that the camera was a gateway to breaking down what worked and failed about James’ approach to indie filmmaking.

[@CandleFlameFilms]

Really nice to see a discussion about this era of filmmaking. I feel like this was the creative sweet spot, where consumer/prosumer gear was just barely good enough to yield professional enough results to get some attention, but not so cinematic that filmmaking became an equipment arms race. The work was never going to hold its own against a mainstream release, so there was more incentive to be your own brand of weird instead of trying to compete with mainstream releases. Now, low budget filmmaking feels trapped in this space where the crisp off-the-shelf image only highlights a production's shortcomings, since they're unable to match the cinematic quality with anything else available to them. Analog smear goes a long way.

[@Nukle0n]

With video, not stuff converted from film, when you shoot at "60i", you shoot at 60 half frames per second, not 30 frames split into two. each field (half frame) is their own point in time. That's why it's important to deinterlace stuff shot on video to 60hz, each field becoming a full frame, then you get the full temporal resolution. This applies to both analog tape and DV and Digibeta. So much SD stuff has been savaged because of not only rough compression and bad connections but also people insisting on doing comb deinterlacing with the fields laid on top of each other resulting in the very visible artifacts, or just straight up dropping half the fields resulting in a very low resolution image both in terms of resolution and motion. And DV isn't an analog medium any more than a CD is, it's magnetic storage just like a spinning platter hard drive. You could put other data on there but you'd have to come up with a way to format it for storage. The default protocol is your 50/60 interlaced video and so to do the 24 progressive frame trickery they have to adapt the data as it's written to the tape, and also why you had to pick the right setting when importing the footage over FIreWire to a PC.

[@ProbablyOkay]

It’s because he found huge success online. Why go into filmmaking when you can make a good living online?

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

This was really cool. Please could you have Lady Emily on to talk thru your theory more? She's like an anthropologist if it was a group of just Rolfe as her specialty. Oh ok just please have her on to bag on the movie with you lol. I'm a petty B.

[@DrLilo]

AVGN movie's heart was in the right place as a way to translate the story into a feature. For me though, what makes it cringe to sit through is the blatant sexism throughout. James Rolfe is an incredible person and I doubt any of it was conscious, but if you look for it, it's there and it's loud.

[@williamoverton7775]

the DVX is ultimate. the XL2 was the only other choice. and the XL2 was better but it needed a third more light. the DVX had really great in camera color correction.

[@deiruru]

You amaze me with your eloquence and perspective; I feel like I keep learning something new from you every video.

[@indieemil]

I love your talks, but please - try to work on not saying "like" as often as you do. Still - loved the conversations!