In May 2022 the Haas Brothers came to us about creating a video campaign to highlight their upcoming NFT project called The Multibeasts.
WHO ARE THE HAAS BROTHERS?
If you aren’t sure who the Haas Brothers are, let me set the stage for you. Niki and Simon Haas are twin brothers who dominate the art scene in Los Angeles. Starting out as construction workers in their home town in Texas, they quickly began creating high end art pieces for celebrities like Donatella Versace, Rihanna, and many others. Their work can also be seen in some of the most prestigious art galleries in the world.
These guys are the real deal.
But before we dive into this project and bringing it back around to my main point of this blog post, take a minute and check out the video link below to watch the brand film:
One of the cool things about this project is that the opportunity came about from a mutual friend here in LA (which the main point I will address later on in this post).
HOW WE DID IT
But to all the filmmakers out there who occasionally work in a documentary style/guerrilla filmmaking… this is the epitome of that sort of project.
Believe it or not - there was no pre pro, no plan, no location scout. Nothing. Niki and Simon are pretty busy guys - so it was a string of emails explaining the project and doing some digging into their work, to establish how we would approach the edits.
One camera (Pocket 4k and 24 - 70 Sigma zoom f2.8), LAV mic into a zoom H6n, and natural day light. That’s it.
The project was shot over 2 days.
Day 1 in Niki’s house for a few hours and then over into their studio for more interviews and B-roll. Day 2 was at their new studio construction site and back to the current studio for more interviews and B-roll.
My son Kade actually came out to help monitor sound for me on day 2, which was really fun to have him along for this project.
CREATING THE EDIT
When we wrapped filming, I was so pumped to begin editing that I ran DIT that night and started pulling selects right away (see yesterdays blog post about how to create an award winning edit).
I won’t bore you with details on how we built each of these edits, but I will say that creating these spots for Niki and Simon was a blast. It’s not every day that you get to work on projects that pay you to flex your creative muscle. Most of what we do as filmmakers can be fairly stale and mundane (especially with corporate videos for most companies). But this one was an exception to the rule. *Don’t be afraid to create passion projects in the vein of work you WANT to create either.
And this opportunity came at a time when we needed it most, coming from a VERY slow Q1 and Q2 this year.
Another thing to note is that Simon makes some amazing work inside of Blender (including creating each asset of the Multibeasts to be minted) so all of the rad digital art/NSFW animations were provided by Simon. Which really took the edit to another level.
The edit was super fun, to say the least. And I am extremely grateful and honored to have been trusted with this amazing project. Which brings me to my final (and most important point).
THE POWER OF NETWORKING
I can’t overstate enough the power of getting out there and networking. And this is coming from a major introvert who doesn’t network as much as he should.
But The Multibeast project came about because of a mutual connection here in Los Angeles. I worked on a music video for a friend of mine back in 2021, who works for a pretty prestigious magazine here in West Hollywood. And have since done some editing work for the magazine as well. Cultered Mag recently did a piece on the Haas brothers. So when they asked around for someone who does video production - my name came up. And the rest is history.
And in addition to this, I am currently working on a new NFT video campaign for a brand called mxtter, which came about from someone seeing the work for The Multibeasts on Twitter, which led Niki to connect me back to mxtter.
I’m telling you. Network. Network. Network.
Passion projects, connections, favors, and kindness go a long way in this industry. And it might seem like you’re struggling to find work (I’ve been there many times), but you have to keep going. Keep grinding. Keep making connections. Never underestimate the opportunity to put yourself out there. Have conversations with people. Brands need marketing and video content. Why shouldn’t you be the one to create it for them?
I can look back on a majority of my work, and almost every single time - they came to fruition by a friend of a friend.
And don’t just be a taker either - be a giver and do the same for others. Good things come to those who take action, and do good for those around us who need the help. When you plant your own seeds of kindness and help others around you… good things will come back around to you as well. I promise you that.
So make a commitment to yourself to network this week, do your best work on every project, practice kindness and gratitude, and watch the opportunities come at you so fast you won’t know how to handle it all (that’s a great problem to have).
One last thing - Just wanted to say a huge thank you to Niki and Simon for allowing me to tell their story. It was a huge honor. This week The Multibeasts mint went live and they completely sold out with over 500 ETH in volume. Congrats fellas! What an accomplishment.
(Check out their project on Opensea below)