E299 – Joseph Malinski – How to fulfill your dreams of telling stories through video production

Junaid Ahmed 0:10
Thank you for tuning in to hacks and hobbies with your host Junaid in season two of hacks and hobbies were visited by our amazing guests coming from all walks of life, what to learn their story, their struggles and their journey on how they got to where they are today. So stick around

in this episode, I get to speak with Joseph Malinowski.

Joseph Malinski 0:47
What's going on?

Junaid Ahmed 0:48
Hey, Joseph. So Joseph is a director, a production coordinator. No, he's a director, and how I met him was through My my good friend, who's also an actor, she got to be in this music video 80s music video, and she did this amazing part in it. But I was like, who produced this video? This is so cool. This is so awesome. Let me reach out to ATV Productions and Joey reached back and he's like, awesome. I'd love to talk and come in and do the interview. And here we are. And thank you so much, Joseph, for coming on to the episode to the podcast for the interview.

Joseph Malinski 1:37
Now Thank you for having me appreciate it. And really, it's nice. That's cool. fantasize about what I do. So yeah, yeah, dude. So one of the one of my passions is video production as well. And I was like, I need to speak with more producers. I need to speak with more directors who are to film and who do who are doing these amazing things that I want to do too. And I I mean, I have been doing these on and off. I just wanted to get it more consistent and more or less we have been getting there slowly we've we've finally formed a little partnership between myself and two other amazing producers and creatives to create some fun videos.

That's awesome.

Junaid Ahmed 2:26
Yeah, so super excited. And it always helps when you have other people working with you. Right? I mean, you can't run it alone.

Joseph Malinski 2:36
No, yeah, I mean, this is obviously a participation sport, filmmaking video making as a group of people no matter how you slice it, because there's, there's so many departments and so many roles that are very specific and takes masters at in order to get correct that, you know, there is the, you know, a crew is important for success.

Junaid Ahmed 2:56
Absolutely. And just like in business, just like in life, You gotta have a team to get from point A to point B, you can't. I mean, you can take a unicycle and go somewhere, but it's not gonna get too far. You can be really bad as a unicycle, though. Yes, that's true. So, Joey, says Joey on your sites I'm going to Yeah, Joe is good to go into to. Joey, tell me a little version of your journey that no one's heard of before. How did you get to where you are today? Where do you get started?

Joseph Malinski 3:31
Um, I've always wanted to tell stories. I always wanted to, you know, share what my view on the world is through what I've been taught by the world. And I also like, just being stupid, like, just acting fun and acting like, this is the world we were put in. It's crazy. Let's make the most of it. So it's kind of tying those two type of traits together in the filmmaking process of I've always been telling stories either you're telling it with your friends

Junaid Ahmed 3:59
Yeah.

Joseph Malinski 4:00
You're telling it with your family, you know? So art, you know, obviously art is something cool to create in life. You know, like you people either you want to be a sport like sports art music or kind of like the top for me, you know, I'm saying, Yeah, I'm wasn't good enough to play sports so you just mix in this world of where it is at. And yeah, I thought filmmaking was the greatest form of art because it's captured everything you could illustrate, you could sound it's acting, it's emotion, it's music, it's everything all in one. So I thought that was the peak of the peak.

Junaid Ahmed 4:32
I think

Joseph Malinski 4:33
i think i think i further changed that to like my is still on film. But I think Video Games has the potential to be more immersive and in that land, and it will give a further reason of art but I do think I grew up on film. So I'm, this is where I want to be.

Junaid Ahmed 4:47
Yeah, and video games are changing and one way or the other too, because of how many different formats they can take. They could be on your phone, they could be on the big TV or you could be immersed in it through virtual reality. So yeah, so

Joseph Malinski 5:04
it's like, and I think that's the future, right? I mean, that's where we're going. So it's like, I agree like, you know, so it's cool. And I think filmmaking is trying to go there. And we're, you know, we have barriers because of real time. But

Junaid Ahmed 5:14
yeah, it's cool. I think there was one movie that was shot in for virtual reality. with Robert drug Rodriguez and Michelle Rodriguez. They did this short film. Oh, interesting. It was it was really it was really interesting to watch it because the lens that they use or had almost a fisheye effect. So when they're shooting, they're like, right in the actors face, and you look right and left, so you can really get an idea of which environment you're in. Is it how they shot it?

Joseph Malinski 5:51
That's super cool. I would definitely check that out. Yeah, I do want to give a plug for that music video that we

Junaid Ahmed 5:57
started. Yeah, absolutely, man. Just

Joseph Malinski 5:59
Just go for it. Family Affair go check it out.

It's doing well still well, so we're, we're happy.

Junaid Ahmed 6:07
So who's good song? It's, it's Mary J. Blige mixed up into this like, you know, dance music. It's pretty fun. Nice. Nice. So, I'll definitely be dropping the link to that music video is it's on YouTube and LinkedIn, sorry, YouTube and Instagram. Or

Joseph Malinski 6:26
just go to YouTube. I mean, YouTube, Facebook, you know anything? Because Didn't you mean? Yeah, it's probably on Instagram as well, too. Yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 6:32
Yeah, I think the Instagram has a little bit of it. But yeah, we'll drop the link to the actual music video on the podcast show notes so people can go enjoy some amazing creation you've created man, this is really cool. Appreciate that. Alright, so I'm looking at your LinkedIn profile at the you've got to just go over here as well.

Joseph Malinski 6:57
Well, what happens is I like LinkedIn is funny to me. LinkedIn is the land of like business, and we're in social media. But where are we really in social media? Are we just acting like a different part of us is and so I like to use LinkedIn wrong on purpose. Now, I think it's because I think it's funny. It's like we're all living in the same once again, we're all living in this crazy

Junaid Ahmed 7:19
world. Exactly. And actually, LinkedIn has gotten much more open to being social. A lot of people that I've connected with in the past year and a half, have come through LinkedIn. And these are people that are posting videos on LinkedIn they're posting, do what they're doing

Joseph Malinski 7:40
what they're doing. Yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 7:42
Really, really interesting. It's changed how LinkedIn has perceived.

Joseph Malinski 7:47
Yeah, because what happens is Facebook's dead and they don't let us see what we want to see ourselves. So yeah, we have to find another source whether or not Lincoln's it I don't think so. But I do think it has potential for growth and a good growth in business because I It is kind of fun it just like oh, here's my intelligent friends. You know, I'm saying

Junaid Ahmed 8:07
really interesting way to put it.

Nice. Alright, so what so we talked about, you know, your little journey and how you wanted to tell the story. Tell the story back into what you were showing it. But what really inspired you to become a director because seeing you've been you've been a in a lot of different area in the arts. So how did

Joseph Malinski 8:33
yeah, I'm Dr. video once again, I worked. I grew up with me my best friend would work together on other stuff. And then he got a job in New York. I was living in California at the time he got me on those sets where I got to work on production sets as a PA all the way you know, for years and watching these big huge productions grow and yeah, you know what took the makeup, multi million dollar commercial troll and Yeah, got to be a director as assistant So I got to see the writing process and how the ideas were created in order to get sold to the agencies. And then the post production I kind of just been grinding on self taught in that area. But I've had, you know, I've had professional jobs in that area as well, but it's just, it's a it's what I pride myself one, but it's it doesn't. I don't know if it's necessarily in the ring of, you know, go down the line of professionalism. But no, that's all. Yeah. So then, so then I moved to Baltimore. Well, at one point, I was working in New York, and I kind of got to a level where I had to make a choice. I didn't want I knew I didn't want to go in the Directors Guild. Yeah, a lot of days. And I didn't want to be an ad at the end. That's not my best talent. Like, I respect the idea, the assistant director on the on some setup and this amount. I think they're one of the main reason why we flow so fast. Yeah, but that wasn't my end goal. So um, I came home to Maryland on and got a cool job at an agency was the creative director and got to see how Maryland's market works. And I've always wanted to you know, if I was I'm gonna live in New York, California, my Western California. I was going to be living in my hometown and you know, making cool products and projects and raising a family and have an awesome life.

Junaid Ahmed 10:11
That's real. That's the dream right? Yeah. Yeah,

Joseph Malinski 10:17
well, we have a tough situation because bottom where is it? Tough city, but you're, it's something I think worth fighting for. So,

Junaid Ahmed 10:23
yeah, no, there's there's a lot of good stuff coming out of Baltimore. Absolutely. There's just a lot of the stuff coming out of all parts of the world right now. It's pretty, especially with the top technology that's available to everybody right now. With the iPhones and you know, being able to shoot for shoot, you know, four shots at the same time on your new iPhone, or are you able to shoot a whole movie? On the I did, right?

Joseph Malinski 10:50
I mean, as a kid growing up like that wasn't really an actual, you know, I always knew I wanted to make movies but like when you said when I thought about movies growing up, it was always like this big, huge, impossible. Mount of people on cost like I kind of like I remember when the mumble core movement started coming out and like to do it on your weekends kind of deal. I love that style and that was like you know that opened up we can make these videos on these cameras now and these like they look this good and we just got to be smart with it you know that's and that's continue to progress to where now you can shoot on the phone? I wouldn't because harder. Oh, you know I'm saying like your bio. Yeah, add 600 more dollars and you got a you could actually make a movie, you know?

Junaid Ahmed 11:27
Exactly. Yeah, you've got to have the right lighting. You got to have the right conditions to to be able to get that correct. Yeah.

Joseph Malinski 11:36
And I like how everybody's like, Oh, I have a nephew that could do that. Like charged with the business world like do their nephew does have an iPhone is younger. I don't know if he's professionally equipped to shoot this video, but let's give it up then I'll be able to do

Junaid Ahmed 11:52
that so funny. Yeah, a lot. A lot of times people don't realize it's not the that somebody can do it. It's that somebody needs to have the experience of what it takes to do it. All the different steps that go into it. You can't just start up, get up and start with a camera.

Joseph Malinski 12:14
Yeah, I mean, I think Yeah, I got kind of disagree I think you can just get up and start that was a Garret but it takes that drive to do it and like to me it's all about measurements of of what you like a success because if your concentration is story and your tool is camera, then if you got a good story and the camera was okay, it didn't you still went forward.

Junaid Ahmed 12:33
Yeah, absolutely. Cool, man. So what are we going into circles, but I think it's really good, good place because the more I talk about it, the more I realize how much I don't know about video production. But I am taking lessons and I'm learning more from experimenting and I've had the opportunity to work on big sets. Not as much as I want to. But it's it's a it's an eye opener because it It literally takes a village those names at the end of each movie and TV show. Those are real people. Yeah.

Joseph Malinski 13:20
Yeah, I always I love I'm obviously I'm a little bit biased but I always thought film production at the highest level is one of the most masterful things like it's, like I said, it is all like these people that are very, very specialized and very, very, very, very good at their job that can do these amazing things super quickly and super efficiently and super amazing. Like it's not an easy, this stuff's easy. That's why when people like critics dog on the movie, yeah, there's sometimes I watch a movie. I'm like, Man, this is just a just like a feat of production that it is very impressive. Yeah, no worries as always a writer problem like, yeah, you can't blame the ad because the thing didn't make any sense. Like

Junaid Ahmed 14:01
Yeah, that's what this that's what they want the story to be. Yeah, and you can't you can't blame the art director or the It's crazy.

Joseph Malinski 14:13
Yeah, that's why I always kind of like, um, I don't know if I'm a great at any of those individual positions other than the fact that I want to, like, deep down tell a real story that matters. So like, that's the ultimate drive and if there's a you know, way of making that happen with different roles, then that's, that's the way it's going to happen.

Junaid Ahmed 14:32
Yeah, that's really cool, man. So how, how big is your team? And how often are you guys out there? doing projects? Our team is three people full time. And then like 20 people freelance because they obviously like, um,

Joseph Malinski 14:51
you know, sometimes we run at 20 person production team. Yeah. And sometimes we run at a to production. Well, no, never two but three producers person production team. You know, I'm saying so it varies between you know, and the how, what is the ass from the client but as terms of full time like sitting in the shop for people

Junaid Ahmed 15:11
nice. So when you guys worked on to me Tell me a little bit about the process of you working on the disco fries

Joseph Malinski 15:22
that came through like a creative place like a lot like a idea place and there they were looking for. I never usually take those kind of things. So it's kind of a crapshoot, but the it was the only one I've ever seen that was a Maryland Delaware or like New York or New Jersey as a location for shoot. Usually it's New York, LA, Miami or whatever. So I was like, Oh, this might this is probably this, you know, I want to try I like you know, do this and then I like the song and I liked the concept of these two photographers that you know, Photoshop their heads on people's faces that they take they take with them, you know, I'm actually I'm not gonna What's the concept so you should watch the video but yeah seeing the video is boil it there but I mean I like that original concept that's funny you know I'm saying and it allows for you know the budget was super tight but it's something that when it's creative people you get people behind it because it's cool

Junaid Ahmed 16:18
no you absolutely right and and getting those quirky ideas out in the open is what I mean that's what

Joseph Malinski 16:26
yeah, I mean that video my self like my daughter's in it like it's what I live for. It's literally

like that will give me enough joy to be like yeah

that's sad and depressed six months later, I'll turn it on and then get become a little bit more happy but then immediately sad and depressed.

Junaid Ahmed 16:46
man that's too funny. That's too funny. And I've been on the other side of the camera too. And you know, I've had the opportunity to, to play and some roles in a commercial and

Joseph Malinski 17:01
You're very Castile, I could cast. Thanks. I gotta cast you in and tons of stuff. There was Yeah, there was one time when Yeah, I get to get a gas. Do you like seven times by now?

Junaid Ahmed 17:12
Wow, that's awesome. That's good to hear I

Joseph Malinski 17:16
all the same role you would have been a tech guy you would have been had a business suit, you would had a phone, you'd have walking by a glass window.

Very similar version if you can play that character.

Junaid Ahmed 17:26
I've done. I've done the walking by in the glass window. Yeah, a lot of times.

Joseph Malinski 17:30
I might I might put you in the back of a cab, you don't know.

Junaid Ahmed 17:35
And then. So I was on backstage and I saw this role for Law and Order. And you're like, Whoa, I want to do this. So they were looking for Middle Eastern looking guys, right. I was like, All right, I'm Middle Eastern again. Grew up in Middle East. And you're like, all right, you're in like, Okay, what do I gotta do? Like, well, you got to be New York native like, Oh, I'm not gonna tell him that. I'm not in New York. I go up there. Yeah,

I drove up there and I was on set for NBC FBI, for you know, the season two episode one, their premiere shot and called late little Egypt. What just came out a couple of days ago. And I was like, Yeah, you're going to be extra in this little edge of town. You give me an extra standing right over here. So I had taken my traditional garb, you know, from head to toe select long thing to like, wear that thing. Nobody else was doing that.

Joseph Malinski 18:30
Yeah, dude, that was on you though. A little bit on you.

Junaid Ahmed 18:34
Hilarious though. It was hilarious because I'm just a bystander, right? So yeah, when the episode came out, first two minutes, I see myself walking with this. But of course, if I have that,

Joseph Malinski 18:46
if I'm the editor, I'm like, wait a minute. We got a guy in that Yeah, let's use that. Let's open with that.

Let's pull that.

Junaid Ahmed 18:50
Yeah. So I was like, you know, just excited to see myself like for like a minute like 30 seconds like there. I am walking my wife. There you are. I don't know

Joseph Malinski 19:02
why that thrill is so thrilling, but it is really only.

Junaid Ahmed 19:07
Yeah, so that was that was a pretty fun experience and trying to break into that area. But a lot of these roles and backstage it's not looking for me. I mean, especially in this area anyways.

Joseph Malinski 19:21
Um, to be honest with you like, um, yeah, it's very limited in the roles. I've been on backstage for the last two years. I've rarely see a role that is worth even applying for, you know, yeah, it's hard. It's hard. When I do see them, I'm happy but I I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what that's what I'm saying. I don't know that. That's one thing going from New York to Baltimore. Like there's some like things that I assumed were kind of not everywhere, but enough.

Junaid Ahmed 19:48
Everywhere. Yeah. And

Joseph Malinski 19:49
there's some just networking is not available in this area. It's not I think

DC is going I think

DC is growing a bigger pipeline though myself. I didn't. It seems like they are

Junaid Ahmed 20:00
Yeah, it's really interesting. I'm trying to get connected with more producers and directors who are working on this kind of stuff to be like, Hey, I'm here. And last six months ago, my good friend Ron Newcomb. He put together this event called VIP TV and film summit. And but at Dulles Airport, and there was a lot of people coming out there attending this event, even though and they're like, you know, we are living in the richest counties in the United States. Oh, yeah, exactly. We should have a ton of video work. So here we

Joseph Malinski 20:39
have a decent amount of video work. It's not entertainment.

Junaid Ahmed 20:42
Yeah. Lots of commercials. Right. That's what I hear.

Joseph Malinski 20:45
Well, commercials are decent and there's a decent amount of money because it's because like you like you said it's, it's you know, like that whole areas is, you know, a lot of money flows through there. Yeah, it was sad that we lost Discovery Channel to New York, but

Yeah Discovery Channel down here as well.

Junaid Ahmed 21:02
Yeah, I remember my good friend used to work there. He was an editor at Discovery channel for a while. And editor and a videographer, videographer. I think he moved back to Boulder after he heard that they're gonna move back. Yeah, cool. This was awesome. Alright, so now I've got some questions that I asked my my guests

Joseph Malinski 21:24
awesome let's do it.

Junaid Ahmed 21:25
What is one hobby that you wish you got into and it looks like you got into all of them

Joseph Malinski 21:30
know sports announcing I would always love to do sports announcing that's

like my first dream like just because I but it like, I don't have I can't read out loud very well.

There's a lot of that in

the job. But I love sports. And I think it's because it's like in the moment storytelling. It's like it is and it's so dramatic to me that I think it's like the only drama that like latencies still.

Junaid Ahmed 21:51
No, you're right. It is a very specific talent. All right, what was your favorite movie or TV show?

Joseph Malinski 22:01
I would say TV show the baseline of Simpsons, but in living color for sketch, and then movies like the one that snapped me into a snatch,

Junaid Ahmed 22:09
snatch Oh my god, that was so good. So good because I was like, Oh man, this is like,

Joseph Malinski 22:14
because I wasn't necessarily going to filmmaker route at that point. I was. I was just wanted to tell stories and be stupid.

But then when I seen like, the visual like, he was so

impressive, visually, a music video style, like

yeah, that I was like, Oh, that's what it is. That's what I want to do.

Junaid Ahmed 22:28
Yeah. And, and and the way Brad Pitt talks in that movie. Yes. I made you watch a movie like 234 times. Like, wait, why was he saying again? Yeah, I used to good. I

Joseph Malinski 22:40
used to play it when I went to bed. So I was like, I could quit. Yeah, that one's a good one.

Junaid Ahmed 22:46
Nice. I need to go watch it again.

Joseph Malinski 22:47
Yeah, that's I'm saying I'm gonna watch it again.

For another run. Nice.

Junaid Ahmed 22:53
Alright, so what movie would you choose if you got to play a character in it? Who would you be Brad Pitt

Joseph Malinski 23:01
That's a good question.

Somebody else's row. Definitely. I mean, I like Bill, Bill Murray seem to have a fun time. Um, I guess he doesn't have to he can do a lot of so like he can go as crazy as what about Bob, but I wouldn't want to go that much energy. Yeah, but I like that. That's

Junaid Ahmed 23:21
no no. He did a really good party. Zombie

Joseph Malinski 23:25
zombie lands good to kill him.

Junaid Ahmed 23:31
Oh, yeah,

Joseph Malinski 23:32
exactly. And then lost in translation and then he's got so many good ones, but um, Ed Yeah, I would.

Junaid Ahmed 23:40
I don't know. I don't know. That's a good one.

Joseph Malinski 23:43
I don't have an answer. I would do a Bill Murray Bro. Bro. Probably

Junaid Ahmed 23:46
Bill Murray role in Groundhog Day.

Joseph Malinski 23:49
I mean that Oh, there it is, dude.

Amazing. There it is. That's so fun. And you get a little romance in there too. That's Yeah, exactly.

Junaid Ahmed 24:00
So when I watched the movie, you know, I saw it a long time ago, but then I was like, all right, I need to see it again because I don't remember it. So I watched it again. And then I was like, all right. throughout the movie, he's learning all these things. And then I was like, I need to find out like, how many years? Did he live in that city? Right. Did you figure it out? It was eight years, nine months and like 24 days or something? I was like, Holy smokes he live in the same Day for Night. You know, a nap years. That's crazy. Insane. All right.

Who is your favorite superhero?

Joseph Malinski 24:44
My superhero guy. I would go probably Michelangelo. My Ninja Turtles. consider him a superhero. He is a superhero. We don't want him to be the leader though he would just he would need other superheroes around.

Junaid Ahmed 25:00
Yeah,

Joseph Malinski 25:01
if he's the only choice I gotta get one of them that I can't be him but unless we're gonna hang out and like watch this thing burn

Junaid Ahmed 25:09
it's so there's there's actually an animation about ninja turtle vs Batman. Oh yeah. Wow. Have you seen it? No, it's so good. My son watch it and he was like, oh my god is the best movie ever. Is it? Are they doing it like dark or they did it like it's very dark. Yeah it's a it's a mixed mixed between you know, the fun because they got to bring into the dark from Batman and the fun from Ninja

Joseph Malinski 25:35
Turtles. Yeah, that makes sense. I learned the other day that there was a female ninja turtle live action remake that I'd never heard about ever. So Pinterest

Junaid Ahmed 25:44
would be would be an interesting watch for sure. Alright, last question. If you are a board game, what would it be?

Joseph Malinski 25:55
I gotta go

monopoly just for the family problems. Like it's like it It's the married with children a video games like we're gonna we're gonna fight is this table getting flipped? I can't shout Well, now I have too much money. There's too many pieces of this game. Yeah.

What is a thimble?

Junaid Ahmed 26:12
Exactly. Yeah,

Joseph Malinski 26:13
so that's when nobly definitely

Junaid Ahmed 26:16
nice i like it come out so where can my audience find you?

Joseph Malinski 26:21
I would say Instagram is probably the best bet. Okay, ATP productions. Yeah. And then YouTube as well HDB I don't even know does

Junaid Ahmed 26:32
well, we'll plug in

all of the different links that link you Instagram, you know, Facebook, YouTube, and then definitely the link to the disco fries music video, which was hilarious, just hilarious concept putting together and my friend who got to play the part was she she was like, I got to dress up like a little disco girl and I actually You just met her on set the first time. Two months ago, we did this short, we did this scene for a film. So that was that was a lot of fun. As long as

Joseph Malinski 27:11
she did good, it was cool because

like, we use she did good, like hand poses that allow me to give nice sweet emotion. So it was cool.

Junaid Ahmed 27:19
Yeah. Dude, we will have to reconnect and talk more about gear and how you, you know, get out there. There's some some questions I have about video production that we're constantly struggling with and try and figure out and it would be real cool, real cool to collaborate and work on some of these things together to send some questions my way. Awesome, man. Thank you so much for your time.

Joseph Malinski 27:45
All right, we appreciate it. Thanks so much. Have a good day.

Junaid Ahmed 27:51
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this episode on hacks and hobbies. We absolutely appreciate your contribution. You can find additional notes on hacks and hobbies. com. please share the podcast with your friends and tell them what you learned about our guests today.

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