2020 Snapshot: An Interview with Griffin Olis

Conducted for Dreamer Data in June 2020

I sat down with Griffin Olis, a videographer in the music industry, before he moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2020. We were able to talk about a range of different things, with the main focus being his creativity in the midst of the pandemic.

Marcus: How would you describe your 2020 so far?

Griffin: If you had told me that 2020 was gonna go this way, I would have never seen this coming in a million years. Especially as an event shooter and having my entire career focus around getting people to shoot something, what can you really do? Once quarantine started it was kind of a two month break or so from productions and stuff like that. I was still picking up editing and small animation gigs just trying to keep the lights on, type shit. Right around mid to late May is when we started to pick up again and do more shoots. We’re still keeping it on that skeleton crew level of only five to ten people, but as stuff starts to open up I’m definitely hyped to getting back to full fledged productions. I actually got to direct my first animated video, so that was a fun experience that probably wouldn’t have happened this soon if it weren’t for quarantine.

How was your experience directing your first animated video? Were there any challenges that you faced?

It was amazing! I actually saw Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats’s animated music video series that they did and I was blown away. Atlantic Records and Bennett approached me and were like “can we do an animated video” and I was like “well we’ve never done that before but we could.” I kinda just went down the list of people who worked on that Denzel Curry video and I was super stoked about this dude named Joey Prosser, who brought in his brother in to do all the backgrounds and stuff. Essentially I did a pitch deck and a treatment of what the story would be and what the vibes were then we just went back and forth on some storyboarding stuff. Honestly they just made it so easy.

What were some challenges with changing how you work due to quarantine? Since you were not able to go out and shoot events, it must have been more difficult. Did you learn anything new about yourself as far as how you work? What were some obstacles you had to overcome due to quarantine?

I definitely learned more about myself on the psychological, artistic side, I guess. Just like being trapped in, because I was so used to, especially in the previous year, doing a lot of tour content, being on the road, interfacing with clients, being out shooting and stuff like that, that’s what I found myself gravitating towards. Even though I do still love editing, I’m definitely more on the production side, in the field in terms of where I want to put my time and effort. So, it gave me the opportunity to learn some new skills and try some different stuff, like doing blender tutorials, looking at YouTube videos on how to write short films, features, and get a little bit more into that side of things. I guess the FOMO of staying in and not going out to do stuff was gone because there was nothing to do, so I took that time to finally dive into some stuff that I think I’m a little bit farther behind on than anything else. For example, I edit and shoot because I enjoy it and to pay the bills, but I have never written a feature film, so just getting a few months to try and develop some kind of ideas and stuff like that, I had an infinite amount of time set aside to let my mind run with that kind of stuff. I think that was probably the best part about quarantine, also being able to reconnect. Even just being able to sit here and watch movies, to get back to the inspiration that got me started.

It’s nice to sit down and live your life, you know? For so much that we do, we're just out trying to pay the bills or keep money in our pockets, and there’s not really time for us to sit down and enjoy life like we used to.

I also feel like we put so much on our plate, too. At least for me, I’m kind of anxious so any opportunity I turn down, [I feel like] they’re not gonna go with me next time. My mind starts running, so I’m like “I have to take every single gig,” but when all of that is pulled back and stripped away, it’s like you can enjoy sitting down to watch a movie, you know?

How was it making the transition from being so fast paced and working with other people, being in big groups to being forced into the house, just reconnecting with yourself?

I feel like at the start, at least for the first couple of weeks, it was kind of a relief. For all of February I had been on the road with YBN Cordae (now Cordae) and every single day there was a show, every single day we were in a new city. I was going to be back for like a week or so, then there was going to be another month for the second leg of the tour and I was just feeling so burned out at the time, especially because I had basically been on the road since August, save for a few weeks around Christmas, New Years, and stuff. So, at first it was kind of a relief to be able to chill, hang out, and reconnect with people, but once that third week hit I was starting to be like “alright, let’s get back to it.”

Back in the first Dreamer Data Magazine you talked about how you planned on growing Art Camp this year and you’ve definitely stuck to your word. How do you plan on building the momentum you guys had this year?

Over quarantine, with whatever gear we were stuck in the house with basically, we did a seven minute short horror film. We’re doing everything for that in-house from the ground up, even my homie Arthur who directed it is doing the score. He’s never scored anything before so we’re going to try and see what’s up with that. We also are starting a short docu-series about artists around Chicago that we really vibe with. Chicago isn’t really a part of the theme, I guess, and for the most part we’re sticking away from hip-hop and focusing more on crafts and fashion and stuff. So like fashion designers, painters, even producers. The people who get less of a shine than the performing artists.

What has been your favorite Art Camp project so far? I know you just talked about the docu series but is there anything else you’re excited for?

We’re working on so much it’s hard to narrow in on, but I’m hyped for starting the merch line. We’re gonna try to start throwing some live events, the plan was to do one this summer in Chicago before all the crazy shit happened so I guess that’s going to have to wait. Just building it out from a business perspective has been a cool learning experience too. Learning about getting the trademark established, getting a lawyer, getting the LLC squared away and all of that. But in terms of creative projects that are super fun and I’m hyped to come out are the Melo Makes Music “Manifesto” video, which we actually shot a year ago and a behind the scenes clip from it ended up going mini-viral on Worldstar because people were saying we were breaking quarantine shooting in our friend’s backyard, and there were neighbors next door standing with their arms crossed type shit. So that video we actually just shot the final scene for in quarantine, just wrapping that up. We did another video for that artist Bennett from Atlantic. We went to Downers Grove like a month or so ago, they have a studio set up there where there are a couple video walls on either side and one video wall on the floor and you can be whatever video assets you want as the background. They have a whole truss of different types of lights and someone’s sitting there on a switcher board, we basically programmed a whole live performance and shot it as a music video, so it should probably be dropping in a month or so. That was definitely a new experience working with that kind of technology, it was fun. We’re going to try to do a little festival run when that short film comes out. I think that’s all we’ve got going on right now.

COVID’s taken the city by storm, and now that we’re moving into Phase 4 have you thought of doing socially distanced shoots or videos to make the best out of the situation?

We’ve been doing our best. Admittedly not as socially distant as we could be, but whenever we do have a shoot we always stick to the mask and glove protocol and only have as many people as we need in one place. It’s gonna be nice to have a full 20 to 30 person crew again and be able to lock in.

How has shooting been with the pandemic?

The toughest part is crewing up and trying to reach out because at the end of the day whoever’s directing or producing or shooting or whatever, we’re always going to be the ones that benefit from it the most because our names are directly tied to it. But the crew that we bring on we don’t want to put them in a compromising position if they don’t have to be there, you know what I mean? So I think that’s the toughest thing. Even just asking people if they’re okay with coming out because everyone’s on a different page of what is safe, everyone has to take their own precautions since they have their own families. So, crewing up is definitely the hardest thing, like getting people that are actually on board and not wanting to put people in a compromising situation but still getting those budgets and paying the bills.

Has your 2020 turned out as planned? Why or why not?

Honestly, no. Not at all. Just to be completely honest this is probably the worst year in awhile. I’m trying to make the most of it and stay positive but it’s definitely been a huge obstacle. The flip side of that coin too is that I’m not alone in this. Everyone else in this industry is in the same boat, so I’ve been using it as a reason to try and get creative and work around constraints. This isn’t the toughest thing in the world to have ever happened to creatives, there’s been crazier obstacles in the past, I’m sure.

Did you personally work on your craft during quarantine or did you take it as a chance to relax and unwind from all of the stresses of your career?

I would say I was definitely trying to hone in on some aspects of filmmaking that I think were abandoned for a while. When your passion becomes your career you don’t always do everything that you used to do. For example, I started off writing, shooting and editing full short-films with my friends in elementary and middle school. Even just from a writing standpoint I hadn’t written a short film in so long, so just getting to work with people in the house, like Arthur, it was cool to just be able to get back to the roots and develop a story from start to finish again. For the past couple years to pay the bills I’ve been doing the touring stuff. All that was a great experience too, but it was nice to make a short film just for the sake of it and not be worried about ‘Is this paycheck gonna cut it?’ or ‘Is me investing a month and a half in this tour gonna be worth it?’ Because time is the one thing you can’t get back.

Did doing a short film in quarantine help you recenter? In the sense that it reminded you of why you’re doing this to begin with?

Yeah, it definitely did. The concept wasn’t too crazy, we just wanted something we could pull off with the extremely limited resources that we had, so I guess it kinda made me realize how rusty I was in that department. There were a few different reshoots where it was like ‘Oh that shot would be perfect here, that one would be perfect here’ etc. etc. Like you were saying, it kinda recentered my priorities a little bit more rather than going full into the music industry, which I do love. But, I got to tend to this uncared for portion of my filmmaking experience.

That’s always important to diversify what you do, not just as a creative. You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.

And directing narrative features is my ultimate end goal, so I think sometimes with the music videos and the recaps and stuff like that it just gets a little bit too technical for me, you know creating frames that look cool. At the end of the day sometimes it’s missing a story element, but with narrative film you can do so much. I forgot who said it, but in [reference to] documentary-type work, recaps, tour vlogs and stuff like that God is the director, but in narrative filmmaking the director is God. So it’s cool to be able to create your own world and your own characters and stuff like that. You get to pull all the strings.

Has your art shifted in response to the Black Lives Matter movement?

I’m not sure if my art has necessarily shifted because of it, but I’ve definitely been trying to do whatever I can. I know I’m not perfect and I’m totally open to anyone stopping me and saying ‘Hey, can you say this instead of this?’ Or whatever it is. I just want to support the movement any way I can. It’s crazy, the marches literally go right down Clark and everyone just gathers up at Wrigley so it’s really cool and empowering to see that in a time where we have to socially distance the most, it’s also the time where everyone has to come together and protest for what’s right.

I think we’re getting to a stage where we’re starting to see some conversational and protest fatigue, and I just don’t want people to stop posting. This shit is still happening, you know what I mean? It doesn’t just go away. So until everyone has been arrested that needs to be and justice has been served, this shit needs to keep going.

Have you upgraded any equipment this year? What equipment do you use?

I actually haven’t made too many gear upgrades. But, it was kind of a crazy scenario, but we had a rental package that we had rented out for a few weeks and the person we rented from wasn’t accepting any peer to peer business, so we were just stuck with all the stuff that we had. We just had a few basic lights and stuff like that. We also had a couple of Black Magic Pocket 6Ks, which I’ve really been rocking with lately because their color science is honestly amazing for such a small camera. It’s like the closest consumer level camera I’ve seen to the image quality of the Alexa which is just amazing. Also, I’ve been shooting on a Sony A7S2 for so long that I’m just getting really tired of the Sony color science. We’ve been using that as a production camera too, though, and it’s been great.

If you could tell December 2019 Griffin one thing what would it be?

At this point, Griffin paused to take a breath before saying Buckle up. Almost immediately shit hit the fan once it was 2020. There’s plagues of locusts sweeping through Africa, the forest fires. Apocalypse!

I know you’ve worked with artists like Lil Pump and Dua Lipa, but who has been one of your favorites to work with?

Honestly, I guess in some sort of way I’m a social chameleon when I get dropped into any of these groups because they all have different dynamics going and they have a lot of different expectations. But, I have fun with pretty much every group I go out with. Pump and his team. Codi Shane and her team, they were the first ones to take me out on tour ever. We went up to Europe and that was super fun. Still my good friend.

What’s been your favorite experience while traveling?

Let me think about something I can say. Some of them I’m under NDA so I can’t say any of the really insane shit. There were a few nights in London with Codi Shane and that team that were really fun. That was everyone’s first time in London too so it was really nice to go somewhere where no one had experienced it before. We were still doing work, but it was cool too because we got to go into BBC and meet Tim Westwood. It was so weird being in another country and seeing a radio studio that I had been watching for years and years.

There were also some good times traveling with Taylor Bennett too. We went to SxSW and got to kick it with Nardwuar for a bit, so that was super cool. I kinda wonder what he’s like when he goes home to take the plaid off.

Did you get to sit down and converse with him or was it a pass by type thing?

It was really just a quick passing by type thing. I was definitely exaggerating when I said we kicked it.

Now that I think of it, I think the most fun time I had on tour was when Pump played Coachella. It was so crazy bro.

When I was doing your write-up for the first magazine, I was watching a lot of your work. I saw the Pump recap video and I was like ‘wow it seems like he’s having a great time.’ Watching that I was like ‘oh shit, that looked lit.’

It was at the beginning of the tour too and it was my first big bus tour, so everything was kind of just like WOAH. The vibe of Coachella is basically just a bunch of people sharing big houses and shit and everyone goes between the different house parties, so you can literally run into anyone.

Was there anyone crazy that you ran into at these house parties?

Probably the most insane moment was sitting by the fire in the backyard on the first night. I was about to go to bed and I saw someone walking out of the house to the fire. It was A$AP Rocky! He was just kicking it with us and like I was saying it was my first big tour so I was just like WOAH.

Did you find yourself starstruck at these parties?

I definitely did not fit in. It was cool getting to see that side of stuff I guess.

How has social media been a blessing and a curse for you?

Speaking on the curse side, just the fact that, I’m sure most creatives are in the same boat with me on this, instantly being able to compare your portfolio with somebody else. Instantly being able to compare your follower count with somebody else. Instantly being able to put anything up at any time. That’s a curse because it creates a cycle of ‘maybe I’m not good enough at this, maybe I’m not good enough at that.’ At the same time, some of my biggest gigs ever I’ve gotten off of Instagram’s DMs. Pump’s first tour was an Instagram DM. If I didn’t have that continuing portfolio of work and connection base online where I can visually display everything I’ve done so far and my progression so people can see where my career is going, [it makes me realize] that is definitely a blessing, and the fact that it is so utilized so much. Not everyone is going to want to go to your Vimeo or website, but with Instagram if you link up with a random local promoter its like ‘oh we have mutual connections, I fuck with your work, etc. etc.’

Also, just the advent of social media creates a whole new dynamic in peer to peer communication. Down to the scale of if you send somebody a message and you see that they read it and didn’t respond, that’s saying something. Or it’s like ‘I made a video and this other person didn’t post about it.’ Or ‘They made a video and I posted about it and they didn’t say anything about it.’ There’s a weird social dynamic that causes everyone--or at least me--to over analyze.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

In terms of wrapping up the year for the next six months, I’m just gonna try to finish strong in Chicago and wrap up whatever projects we’ve got going on here, then get settled in LA. Then I’ll start to draw back on the connections I was making in 2018 when I went out there for the summer, and just see what kind of work I can get going. Honestly, I have no idea how the career will manifest itself, it always kinda just takes me in a new direction. I’m never really sure where I’m going but I’m always trying to follow my gut and what feels right, and right now it’s saying I’ve gotta go to LA and try to just figure it out so that’s my plan.