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Mind-Made Media is a Los Angeles-based independent production company started by two indie and big-budget filmmaking veterans, Alexandra Austin and Mike Walsh. Recently, the company produced award-winning viral content to promote the book 10 Birds with 1 Stone. For more information on Mind-Made, visit the company's Reel-Exchange profile.

If you would like to have a Q&A on one of your recent projects, email Reel-Exchange Community Manager Craig Erpelding at support@reel-exchange.com.

CE: In today’s Hollywood, do you consider yourselves filmmakers, or with the range of content that Mind-Made creates, is there a more correct term?

MW: Alex comes from short-format and low-budget independent film, myself from studio filmmaking. I personally started off in the camera department then moved over to lighting. Over the last 20 years, I've worked on some of the biggest and most expensive Hollywood movies like Into the Blue, Tears of the Sun, 2Fast 2Furious, Bad Boys II, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, etc. So, the background I have is not the type of work we're doing now, but it doesn't mean we're not filmmakers just because we're not making big-budget theatrical movies. By our method and intent, we are certainly filmmakers—regardless of budget size.

AA: People can get hung up on monikers, but ultimately, we're telling stories, whether they're a minute long or feature-length. Between us, we've done film, television, documentaries, on-air promos, commercials, viral video, and PSAs. It's all content, for want of a better term.

MW: We're simply creating content with a wider range of applications at a lower cost, with greater opportunity for financial success because the ratio is lower. All our work is crafted the same way; the look and quality is the same; it's just done digitally, on a smaller scale.

AA: We're basically getting the same result that it could take a crew of 20 and up to achieve on a bigger project. There are no small projects, just small budgets.

MW: Where big-budget experience does come in handy is having the depth of experience and understanding to make more rudimentary tools do extraordinary things. But film itself is not exclusive as the medium of a true filmmaker. We have to release ourselves from the idea that film is the only legitimate form of artistic expression. The arrival of digital capture has afforded us a broader, less expensive means of communicating, which absolutely has equal merit.

CE: You use a range of Panasonic cameras, from the AG-DVX100B to the AG-HVX200 and even the AG-HPX500. These are traditionally filmic camcorders; do you use their functions differently for other videos you create, such as the book teaser?

MW: We might vary some of the basic camera settings to accommodate different shooting situations, but we like to use the Panasonic series of digital cameras because of the cine-gamma look they generate, which most closely matches the visual aesthetic we prefer. They have a more understated, less artifacty quality. It took a long time to decide which cameras to invest in due to a number of factors, but the quality of the Panasonic range, the convenience of the P2 workflow, and the price bracket won out. I am constantly pushing the envelope with the HVX200 and constantly amazed by how far it will go to achieve the images I envision. So expensive gear is not a prerequisite to quality. The most important tool is your brain and your ability to visualize exactly what you want. Lots of people shoot video and betray their methodology with a result that looks like video, that people judge as video. But you can absolutely make your gear adhere to your will and craft an image with a more filmlike look.

We just won two Telly awards for PR and videography/cinematography on a book promo we created for indie publisher Pollinator Press. It was shot on a single HVX200 with a Redrock [Micro] adapter and a Canon EF 70mm-200mm f/2.8L USM lens, which is actually a still-camera lens. What makes this setup unusual for a video interview is that we placed the author right in front of a huge window, which meant we needed a brighter-than-normal key light to keep the contrast ratio within the limits of the camera. Technically, this represents a huge problem, but because of the cine-gamma range of the HVX200 and shooting at the right time of day, we were able to create the contrast with one big soft key light and an eye light. I used a Kino Flo [Diva-Lite 400] and a ParaBeam 400 with a Litepanel on top of the camera for the eye light. The brighter key light allowed the exposure to collapse the shadow side, and this, paired with the shallow depth of focus from the Red Rock, achieved the cinematic look. In essence, I made the camera accept the light from the window by offering a brighter key light—which resulted in deeper, richer blacks in the shadows without blown-out highlights. This illustrates that with knowledge, experience, and confidence in your own eye, you can make an HVX200 do almost anything.

CE:With your background, and the projects that Mind-Made does at this point, what’s your view on traditional Hollywood as we move into a different era of content creation and distribution?

MW: I don't think the current Hollywood model can continue to keep making movies at huge budget levels; it's just not viable economically unless you're talking about the current crop of superhero franchise films. Traditional Hollywood is changing: Ready or not, here it comes. There will always be a certain percentage of spectacle movies because spectacle is a money-maker, but in a way, we're actually closer to the traditional roots of filmmaking now than we've ever been because it's more accessible. I believe filmmaking was always intended to be small, a personal relationship and collaboration between the vision and the medium. Corporate machines have turned filmmaking into what it has become today because there is big money to be made, but real filmmaking is more intimate than that. The digital era and the explosion of the Internet allows that intimacy and gives people who aren't Hollywood decision makers a chance to throw their hats in the ring. Now you don't have to go through the corporate machine to be involved, and you can still make money.

AA: The big question is, how are you going to get your work out there? How are you going to connect to an audience? Theatrical distribution is still the Holy Grail for filmmakers, because of the trickle-down to the ancillary markets—DVD, pay-per-view, domestic and foreign cable, network TV, most recently digital downloads. But it costs a huge amount of money to market a film, and Hollywood has theatrical locked up for the most part. There are less than 500 theatrical slots per year and around six times as many films made each year. So the odds aren't great for independents, to say the least, if the big screen is your ultimate goal. Now, the emerging markets are becoming financially viable for those creating their own content and marketing through festivals, websites, word of mouth. But, you need smart people to help you. No one can be a filmmaker, business manager, lawyer, and marketing genius all rolled into one. For example, we've just started working with Mitch Stein, who is a producer in the broadest and best sense of the word. He is creative, intuitive, and has a staggering understanding of the Internet as a marketing tool and the unique ability to drive huge audiences to projects online. Without a Hollywood in, the best path can be to create an audience for your work on the Web. So we have turned to Mitch to help us market our documentaries. He produces his own work, both independent features and a successful web series, and also helps others successfully market their projects. There's just no way we could do it on our own; marketing is a full-time job in itself, and not one we want to spend all our time doing. We want to be making films.

CE: Is it possible as a filmmaker today to adequately prepare oneself further than just a few years into the future?

AA: There are lots of technology companies out there with products to sell, so we're continually bombarded with the next shiny new thing because those companies need to stay in the game. But a master craftsman can make anything with the most basic of tools, so people shouldn't feel pressured to throw out their tried-and-true gear for the flavor of the month. There are certainly new tools that make life easier, which is why we've chosen tapeless technology; it allows us to take out the digitizing step. Anything that saves us time is good.

MW: Technology is constantly changing and being improved, so those attracted to the latest and greatest thing can fall into the trap of constantly being in flux or a state of indecision because there's always something new to look at. If you're waiting, you're not producing, so the best camera is the one you can shoot with right now, the medium you have access to at this moment, because ideas supersede the technology. Good content is good content no matter what the format. Change should be embraced though, because new technology is only there to make something that's hard to do easier for those with less experience. If you're a good filmmaker, it doesn't matter what equipment you use. If you're not a good filmmaker, it doesn't matter what equipment you use.