Griffin keeps a full gear list at griffinhammond.com/gear – but 2022 brought some workflow changes, so it’s time to review and update his inventory. Plus, Nick decides to buy a new electric vehicle, and picks it up the very same day!

Griffin didn’t buy the Insta360 Link 4K Webcam because it has a gimbal. But it turns out, auto-tracking movement is its most useful feature. Even better, the image quality outperforms the similarly priced 4K Opal C1 ($300), which is marketed as “The first professional webcam.”

Plus, Nick lets Lensa AI reference his selfies to generate “Magic Avatars.”

Nick is now on Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@ampsonic

So is Griffin: https://creators.social/@griffin

Also mentioned in this episode: Griffin uses this Westcott mini boom arm.

Nick has been writing prompts for AI images on Midjourney v4. Griffin’s been playing with DiffusionBee on Mac. Our faces may render horrifically in AI, but for many other use cases, the results are uncanny, with plenty of rapidly arriving ethical and copyright implications for artists.

Nick recommends listening to this interview with Midjourney founder and CEO David Holz.

Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com/griffin to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Griffin shares his crazy experience filming Election Night in America—how much travel, expense and work hours go into building maybe 5 minutes of a television show. He earned a “Director of Photography” credit on Showtime, and safely navigated around a known COVID-positive team member on set.

The U.S. State Department has invited Griffin to teach DIY documentary filmmaking in Zimbabwe—should he do it? Nick says yes.

We apologize for the delayed uploads. It’s been a rough month—Griffin’s mom Carol died mid-October, and he wrote this tribute to the positive impact she’s had.

Many commenters have referenced previous episodes that featured Carol:

March 2018 from the campus of Illinois State University

April 2018, following Carol’s apartment fire

Griffin asks for your input: Should he activate YouTube memberships, the paid tiers that allow creators to offer additional value alongside their existing, free channel?

Nick offers his opinions, as they review the various monetization options available across platforms.

Griffin shares revenue numbers from the monetization methods he already uses, including AdSense, and the videos he sells directly, like his 1-hour doc filmmaking crash course, his 5-hour CreativeLive class, Shooting Documentary Short Films, and his film Sriracha.

They also explain YouTube Handles, and discuss how they saved their friend’s “Hocus Pocus” projection show (Welter Family Holiday House).

Griffin calls it a “Robo Camera.” It’s the Feelworld NDI20X, and it’s $6,244 cheaper than the pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera used at his former job (Panasonic AW-UE100). Nick helps Griffin set up his network to remote control this 1080p camera over ethernet, using NDI Tools software.

Nick shows off his new office, featuring an Elgato Key Light and Elgato Master Mount S (desk-mounted arm). Griffin is now recording with a Shure SM7B microphone plus Cloudlifter CL-1, he purchased used on eBay.