Yohance

Welcome back, everyone. We're here at design on air. I'm your host, Yohance here with my wonderful co host.

Juriel

Hey Juriel.

Yohance

And today we're speaking with director and founder of Equator Studios. Anthony Prince Lesley, also known as also known as AP, Brooklyn native and founder of equator studios since 2017. AP is a collaborator with us here at Day One as we worked on a recent Converse star Chevron shoot for Instagram. He's notably, graduated from New York Art Institute here in New York, and also won an award from the Google Creators labs, a global showcase of creative talents addressing contemporary social political landscapes. So we have a very talented some people might say, multi hyphenated person right in front of us here today. So, welcome.

Juriel

We're so happy to have you.

AP

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me Yohance. Yeah, it's just I think it's super important that we are able to like also talk about what we do, because you just see it on the internet. And it goes there. And then it goes with a caption and acid. But I think it's a lot deeper than likes, right?

Juriel

It's really nice to be able to interact in person and just really hear about your work as well. I wanted to hear just about your day. What are you doing today?

AP

Today, I woke up with my phone flooded with so many messages. I just most recently put out some work that I documented with Z, also known as Zendaya. Yeah, I got to work with Amazon at MGM as well on the back end to like, really strategically, like figure out, you know, what this new piece would look like after documenting them on set. And it just came out amazing. And I'm really excited about you know, putting it out today. It's been like, about two years. Since we shot Yeah. So yeah, man. I'm really excited about that today. And now I'm here with y'all.

Juriel

Oh, what a process. Yeah. And how was it working with Sunday out? What was your experience like?

AP

Working with Zendaya is always amazing. Yeah Zendaya is just like, super humble. She's a boss. She's very, I would say, you know, strategic, and also just also another multi hyphenate. Like, I'll be shooting on set, and she'd pull cameras out and we'll be shooting together. You know what I mean? Like, so fun. Yeah, like a lot of a lot of the clips that that you might see with inside the pieces that we're gonna be uploading throughout the next month. She has some VHS shots in there, like some moments that she got with the characters that's in the film that we got to loop in there. So yeah, man, she she's a multi hyphenated amazing person to work with through.

Juriel

So cool. How is it to like, probably helps a lot that she knows how to be behind the camera also probably helps a lot with her in front of the camera as well, right?

AP

Oh, yeah, definitely. Like, again, just working with actors overall, you know, like, they're already like, very camera ready, always aware, you know, like a regular person, if you go and look to the side of if a camera comes in front of us. There are some actors as trained that date the camera, not even they're like, you know, they can like block all that out. So, ya know, so

Yohance

you said, you shot this two years ago. So what is that like, as a director working on something and not that you may not be able to speak on it, but you don't get to show the full scope of the work. So you kind of go through the emotions of I worked with then data and then two years later, you get to finally show that work? What is that? Like? Is it frustrating?

AP

It's a little bit of frustrating because it's like, I want to, I want to release this so I can receive again, you know, and I think the best part about this, about that is that it really gives you time to think about what you're creating and why you're creating it. A lot of times were putting up things that we worked within the last month. And it's not always it's never easy trying to like tell your colorist you need it now telling your editor you need it now, your sound director you need it now when you can really be thinking about what is that sound and that needs to be there. You know, what is the shot that fits this, you know, moment the most? You know, a lot of times we look at the work that I do commercially, and you know, given the tight timelines, I love it, obviously. But you always see something that you want to change. You know, and when I look at pieces of work that you I've been working on for a year, most likely a short film most likely a passion project. I love that shit and everybody who watches it also love it. Because I got the time to sit down and give it the love that it needs. So yes, a little frustrating. But it's really gratifying to know that what you created worked.

Juriel

Yeah, that's a really good point. Because working in advertising, a lot of the times the projects we work on, right, like the turnaround time is a couple of weeks a month, and we're just rushing to really get it out. And I'm really curious to see like, the differences that you feel in those projects where you have to really get it out quickly, you know, those short term projects versus when you're really dedicated spending, like few years getting this out, what's like that emotional impact?

AP

The emotional impact of just waiting is knowing that any other works, that you work on any other projects that you're working on, that you're going to give it that same amount of just, you know, again, like, the impact on on me is separate from the impact that it's on other people. For me, it's like, actually finding my voice. That's the impact on me, for people is actually receiving everything that the director, the, you know, all the artists behind the work actually wanted, you know, like, I want you to see your hair, you want to see this hair, you want to see this makeup, you're gonna see this, you know, costume design, and everything. And that's why I love narrative. I love movies, because most times you I mean, I guess, yeah, most cases, you know, you'll, you'll get to really spend time with the film, you know, you really, I mean, unless you're working with a studio, and it's a passion project, you know, you really get to, like, sit with the character sit with the, with all your team members and really flesh out everything a little bit, you know, deeper than the surface to like, really say something.

Yohance

And so I think what's interesting about that is it's a reminder to know that you never really arrived. This is kind of me talking to myself, but there was definitely a point in time where I was like, oh, once I make this, it's up, you know? And it's like, no, you're gonna keep creating, and you're gonna keep doing the same thing with life. You don't ever arrive as a man where you don't have to do anything anymore, you know. So, even though you hit this milestone of making an awesome project with Amazon, it's like, I still have work to do. Yeah, so I think the two year gap, like correct me if I'm wrong, kinda just allows you to still build up ammo, and throw stuff in your arsenal or your portfolio as people finally get to see that work that you did way back?

AP

Oh, yeah, most definitely. And it also sets the tone because then you're looking at, you know, okay, how am I color correction, looking here, on this project, I needed to match all these other stuff, too, as well. Like, you know, I'm starting to think about my overall aesthetic, like, I love to have like, a, I love green, obviously. I love light and shadows. I don't like my shadows to be to contrast, and I like my image to be too contrasted. I want you to be able to fill all those colors within it. And also because I shoot on several different mediums, raising, well, getting rid of the contrast that is like, you know, already happening within the VHS, you know, already happening within digital. Just kind of unifies everything. So, you know, I learned that through this process, and now I treat my VHS like it's film, you know, I treat my digital. Not so much like it's film. But I might make it black and white, so you can feel it. You know, because that film has that soul VHS has that like family vibe, you know, and then your digital is like, professional commercial, where now it's like, for me, it's like a moment, a memory, you know, something to connect to different colors.

Yohance

So you use the black and white to help it blend in with the other mediums that you're filming on.

AP

Yeah, and not stand out too much. You know, because like, again, I said, like, it's easy to make everything look crunchy. And it's like, that's what our eyes do. You know, like, that's what a lot of these mediums do. I mean, not so much eyes, because we can see the difference in like, all the different types of blacks and stuff like that. But once you get on the internet, everything looks the same.

Juriel

I love asking this question is like, you spent so much time and effort delivering your emotion to the way that you edit these photos, take these photos, videos, what is your ideal way that the audience engages with your work?

AP

My ideal way for the audience to engage with my work is to feel something you know, I want I want my audience to feel like they were there. I want them to feel like they want to cry. I want them to feel something anything, you know, even if it's something that they didn't like, because that all strikes compensation. And everything that I create is a conversation piece and and for the most part like overall see myself as an archivist. You know, I'm here to document the time Um, so the people that surround me and the people in our industry and how they're interconnected, you know what I mean? So, like, for people to watch all this work years later and be like, Wait, Z knows this person, or like, this actor used to hang out with this key grip, or like, you know, I mean, like, it's, we're all very interconnected. And I think that, if we can show all of our stories are connected, then all of our stories kind of get memorialized. Right? Like, nobody really gets left out. Because then when you hear this story, then you're gonna have to hear this story over here. It all adds context.

Yohance

Because it adds context. I like that. I like that. So just to give everyone an idea of where you came from where you started out, where are you from?

AP

I'm from Brooklyn, New York. City. Brooklyn the floss. Can I get some? Some, big up all my Jamaicans. Yeah, man, I love Brooklyn so much and made me who I am, obviously.

Yohance

And so growing up in Brooklyn, Did you always know you wanted to be a director or an artist? Or did this come to you later on in life?

AP

This came to me later on in life. I always knew I wanted to lead. You know, I started off. I mean, I obviously my my mom, she always had a point and shoot like a, you know, 35 millimeter Kodak situation. And she would take pictures and then she, you know, give it to me to take pictures of her. And I was like, Okay, that was something and then one day she went to this, what you call it? The jewelry spot that was also selling like this old refurbished camera, she got the camera for me. And I'm like, What do I do with this? You know, and that sat on the burner. And I was like, 12 years old. Right? But as a Jamaican I always dance you know, big up one of the biggest dancers and most influential Bogle. Not a lot of people know about him, but he's the person who did who made the willie ban. He made he was the person who made the willie bounce. And, you know, that took the world by storm from the little island in Jamaica, you know, and Jamaica. And now you're everywhere year and doing a thundercalp in an Usher video, you know what I mean? Like, but anyways, besides all that, you had to be in a dance group at the time, because, you know, all the, you know, everybody and within my community had their own dance groups, your dance, and I was kind of like a leader in my, in my group, you know, so that gave me the heart to like, want to lead so I would do a dance. And then my friends will come behind me and do a dance, you know, and I will do a next dance. And they will do that. So I set the tone. And then somehow, when they, you know, Mr. metoo, Pharrell came out, you know, and that song go crazy to be is crazy. Then they started having a skateboard with the BBC ice cream. And I was like, oh, Nah, you know, I didn't get a skateboard. So I bought I found a skateboard some toys or a skateboard. Like, you know, walking around in my neighborhood, my friends. Well, my brother's sorry. And I'm like, yo, Brian, like, this, this video. I mean, sorry. I'm like, Yo, bro, I can't think I think everything video now. So I'm like, yo, Brian, yo this skateboard is hard. Like, he's like, Yo, like, now you can find another table. I'm like, not let's just get this and start somewhere. You know, it, it barely went far. But we was like, Okay, we're gonna take this, we, we painted it. And we used what you call it markers to put our like, dance name on it, but I didn't know that it was gonna turn into a career for me. You know what I mean? Because then I was able to then make skate videos with my younger brothers. And I got sponsored by it.

Yohance

No way.

AP

Yeah, I got sponsored by an energy drink company called Thrive energy drink. Imagine RedBull. And it was RebBull. But it was called Thrive energy drink. They found us on MySpace sent us so many cases to the front door of our house and me my brothers, Brandon and Brian. We were just like, what, really? What do we do with this? We got mad free stuff. So we're just like, okay, cool. You know, turn turn into Equator skate team. And then we were just like, Yeah, let's do it. So again, I'm leading. You know, like, I'm just taking what's here, what's around us our resources and being able to multiply it, especially, you know, sharing it with my brothers and like, finding new ways to just get our voices out there or just be kids. Right? I'm not thinking too hard about like, this is a career. I disagree. I need to make it like no, I'm just like falling in love with the things that surround me and like finding ways to express myself so.

Juriel

I loved hearing that story too, because it feels like a lot of it is that you want to transfer this feeling to other people. And at the end of the day, even photography, dance skating is Like all about community, and telling that story, and making others feel this kind of like, I don't know if joy is the word, but like, whatever that genuine feeling is.

AP

Yeah it's super relatable. You know, it's a feeling that is like, ah, you know, like it has no color has no bound, it has no figureheads, nothing just like, something that will make you connected to another person. And I feel like, that's something that you can even find in my work. You know, like, I shoot, the way I shoot and how I create characters up I'm working on my own passion work is like, oh, who can see themselves in? You know what, this person is already out there? Who is it? You know, like, do I have friends do? Do I have people that I've worked with before, that exemplifies traits of this person or character? And what does what's already out there as well? Like, are they on TV? You know, do we have a character like this on TV? And like, How can I really flesh out and dig a little go a little bit deeper than, like, surface level, like how they look?

Yohance

So now I have a question just because you're Jamaican.

AP

Yeah.

Yohance

And I hope you've seen the movie, but a Bob Marley movie just came out. And it's been very contentious in terms of people's opinions. And so from a director's point of view, what do you call it when you drop a movie, from my perspective, it was a beautiful movie, it looked like a blockbuster Hollywood film. Yeah. But everyone isn't getting behind, especially the people who were supposed to represent maybe what do you call that? Did you feel that type of way when you just saw the negative reviews. Even though if you've seen it, it's not a horrible movie at all?

AP

It's not a horrible movie. I think it's a great movie. First of all, who's the director on and again, I forgot his name. I think he did a great job. You know, I think he did as good as he can. As somebody who's not Jamaican. You know what I mean? I think he did as good as you can as casting wise. For people who aren't Jamaican as well. They really did work on that accents. It didn't always work. It didn't always sound Yeah. But I will say that some you know, like, when something's I look into director's work is like, what are these characters mannerisms? You know, like, some of their mannerisms are like very Jamaican. And that that also, like, triggered me and I was just like, okay, when you said, Yeah know, like, you know, me. Yeah. Like, I was like, Yeah, I feel like because I can hear my uncle right there in a phone or like, on a phone talking. Genuine man. You know, I mean, I have to do this after, you know, I don't really want to do it. But I have to. And I think that he did really well, when it came to like fleshing out these characters that are on screen, and I felt connected to Bob now, you know, I kind of we always saw him as like this, you know, this big, you know, I wouldn't say like he's the mascot for Jamaica. Like, without seeing the mascot. I was seeing the you know, but like.

Yohance

But for real. I mean, I was having this conversation with somebody where I was like, I think Bob Marley is more famous than Michael Jackson. I was like, you could go anywhere, anywhere in the world. I've been I've seen a Bob Marley mural somewhere facts, you know, facts. And I don't think the I think the actor who played Bob Marley did a great job. When I listened to different perspectives on the film, it seems to be more with like the overall writing and storytelling. Yeah, I agree with you. I think they, he they really got into their Jamaican-ness is they really did. Yeah. And for somebody, well, not for me, because I wasn't born on the island. But I know, especially for people who are from the island, just seeing the island represented on the big screen in that way was impactful. Like, whoa.

AP

Yeah man, like, it's time for, you know, for us to see ourselves in a new way outside of Shottas. You know, Shottas was like.

Yohance

I saw that too young too, right?

AP

We all saw that too young. But like that Shottas is like, you know, a gangsta, you know, movie. With a Marley in it, you know, I mean, who Yeah, it just feels it felt right, because it was just super raw, you know, and I felt like what this Bob Marley movie, they want to do a justice. And I feel like it couldn't be that raw, you know, like they had, they had to clean up the edges a little bit. And I'm okay with that. Because, overall, like, the story was clean, and it matched. And it feels like, I want to know more about Obama, and I want to listen to his music afterwards, day to day job, because everybody who's writing negative comments about it, they watching it, they're watching it, you know, and like, not every negative press is good press. But the fact that like, it strikes conversation, and we get to spend five minutes of our podcast today, talking about it.

Yohance

With a Marley in it. It shows that it was impactful in some way, right. Yeah. Because you get to easily be like, I don't really have any thoughts and then now, you know, it was a bad move. Mm hmm. So I just wanted to jump into some other questions. So you as a director, what would you say is a crucial skill as a director that you didn't know you needed to have when you first have embarked on this journey.

AP

Man, I got the perfect answer for you. Okay. One of the crucial skills that I didn't know, I needed as a director only came through experience. And I realized that my job is to set the tone and also know how to direct energy, you know, like you might have, you got to be quick on your toes. Number one, you never know what might happen production is, is wild, they're gonna say, no script, we're gonna rip off, we're gonna just like, what you call it, freestyle, ad lib you know, we're gonna add live some of these lines. And you are as a director, you're in charge of the talent and like, helping to, you know, navigate this situation with them. So you got to realize, you realize that, like, you're responsible for talent, you're responsible for your crew, and you're responsible for fighting for them, you know, especially when you think something is not going to work, you're responsible for speaking up for, for any talent, or crew members, when it matters, and you're also responsible for the project to do well. So you know, a lot of a lot of what I'm doing on set is, like, really being able to get everybody on the same vibration, you know, get everybody on the same page. And, you know, weeding out any negativity, any doubts, any, you know, second thoughts like, this is what we're doing. And this is how we're doing it, how we feel about this, we feel great about this, this is amazing, we're going to kill this shoot today, this is going to be a very, this is going to be a very, you know, emotional story. And I need y'all to be quiet on set, I need y'all to work with me, we're all in this together, all of these things are like something that, you know, through experience, when you realize that somebody came, you know, not feeling right on set, or, you know, whatever is going on in their world, in kinda like, share that energy around a set until like, something happens on set. And then you're like, wait, what's going on? And that's because, like, you know, a bad apple might be spreading the seeds, you know, like.

Yohance

How do you manage that, because you may not always be able to be like, get them off set.

AP

No, and, and I try not to be that person that's like, get them all set. But I will speak to my executive producer, there's a chain, and there's a chain of command. When you get on set a hierarchy. When you get on set that lot, not a lot of people know about as well, you know, so I mean, obviously, you know, me, as a director, I need to work with my talent, make sure they're good. And make sure that my camera and my DP is pointing the camera how I needed to get what we need, I'm going to tell the EP like, hey, the sound guy and feeling too happy. We need to get him on the right page, or we need to do something else. Like I need you to help me find the solutions. So I'm not trying to find all the solutions by myself, you know, and I work with a lot of creative problem solvers. So I trust that we'll always be able to figure out how to navigate any difficult situations on set.

Yohance

And so you speak about advocating for talent working with the talent, what would you say is the difference between working with you already touched on actors and what they bring, versus maybe you have a lot of content creators and influencers that you may be working with, or most recently on the Converse Star Chevron shoot, you're working with Jasper, who isn't necessarily an actor, but he has those abilities. He isn't necessarily a rapper, but he's used to being on camera. So how do you get the energy out of those people who may already have it? Or maybe don't have it, and you need to get them to tap into that and bring it to the forefront?

AP

Well, number one, I would say, just converse, I mean, I had so much fun on the conference shoot, like, it was just amazing. Yeah, man, I'm happy. I got to work with Jasper. My DP was amazing. It's my first time working with my new agency. You know, first time working with day one, we shot out some noise, just give him some noise. And then I also saw you on sound like your heart, say, what do you do here? And you're like, Oh, I work with day one. I'm like, okay, that's dope, good, good vibe. I'm happy that this is going in this direction. But I would say, you know, in order to working with actors, especially, I'll say just working with Jasper Jasper. Jasper is great to work with coming from Lourdes squad, the way they treat scripts and ad lib is a lot different from what you know, Congress might have wanted. And they were able to find a middle ground which was amazing. Because he was improving a lot. He was improving, but he also improved around the scripts are my my job was to be like, okay, cool. They have like, alright, Jasper, we have to hit these few lines. You know, but how can we talk around these You know, I could also feed you lines, you know, when you get to these moments, what's most important thing was that like Jasper was open to like creating a character. So he paced back and forth on set for a little bit. You know, I had him like conscious back, like, I felt like he was like, like a sim character for me. And I would just add in shit. I was just like, once you close your eyes, make your head twist, like the exorcist. And he was down for it. And, and that's what, that's what's great, what actors they understand, like the creating of the character, which is dope, working with models or influencers? They turn on quick, you know, they know that angle. They know, you know, how to look not so much how to talk. Interesting, you know, so influencers might know how to talk, but def models, most likely not. And there's some really talented models out there, who do know how to who do know how to do that. But for the majority that are entering the industry in which they're always young, it takes experience, but it in that moment, I'm always thinking about like, what, what can if they have to speak like, what, what feels natural to them? You know, and how can we like, hit it from that angle? Never trying to make it feel like it's out of reach for the, you know, models or influencers. And then with celebrities, you just got to be really direct. You know, like, Okay, I want you to do this, like this, and we'll hit it. And they're like that. And then yeah, go and do that thing. And then it's like, Haha, that's why you get paid the big bucks. Yeah, you know, so because they do

Yohance

that. And yeah, and they probably want that direct direction, because it is really a job for them. So yeah, if you are being not direct, it's like, what am I doing here? Like,

AP

you know, you're not directing? If you're not direct, right?

Yohance

There you go. That's funny. And so what would you say? was the experience like working with the agency? Are there any pros that you could point out working with the agency versus working independently on the project we just worked on?

AP

I mean, what what agency? Do you mean? Do you mean like, oh, so

Yohance

the agency that represents you, but also in terms of working with day one, and our creative directors and art directors to bring the vision to life?

AP

Okay, so this is this is a twofold kind of question, because I feel like working with, you know, me, as a director, having a new agency, shout out to be YT. I just signed to them. And it's been fruitful, because they knew right away that this Congress project was perfect. They were like, Anthony, you, you're a little bit of funny. You want to get into narrative, you do documentary. So this might be a good fit. We haven't you haven't worked with Jasper before, but like, let's see what it is. And I already knew already that this is something I want to do. So I just started, you know, making my little visual board, a little mood board, and I sent it to them. They're like, whoa, we don't need that. But I guess we could share it with them. And then, you know, it made sense. You know, I was, I feel like a big part of why this work is because I was willing to give ideas. You know, I have a plethora of ideas, you know, and I just, when I feel when you feel something that's right, you're gonna go and do it, and you can do it. Right. So that situation is great to be just working with an agency who understands what's your overall motivates, which are what's what's going to help to grow you as a director. Agency, creative agencies can be sometimes hard to work with. Just because like, they're the they're the idea creators. You know what I mean? And you think, as a director sometimes that like, yeah, these are, these are my ideas. But these are our ideas. You know what I mean? And if you don't really like the creative agency ideas, it'll go left. But that being said, I love day ones creative ideas. And it worked out. And I really think that a big part of it was that I was able to add to the story. You know, I wasn't I didn't have to do it all by myself. And truly collaborative. It was truly collaborative. You know, right away, I get into my pre production, I create my shortlist. I'll communicate sum it up, we figure out what the lighting is looking like. We Scout, you know, we talked some more about it. We have these P PMS internally. And all of that is the collaborative effort. Shout out to Google. I'm in slides all day. Yep. You know, and then put presenting slides, but I feel like the biggest part is that you have support, you know, working with a creative agency working with a director agency, or is there To help support you, and not take away, and I like to lean on the community that were crawling around these projects, and he spent the small families, you know, to be able to help me see the vision through in a major way, if I was only limited to my ideas, and I don't know how big I don't understand, I don't think I don't know how big you can get. I mean, I know it starts somewhere. Right. But I always, you know, we employ these DP, the gaffer, you know, to help us elevate what we're seeing and thinking about and just think more deeply about it. So I'm, I'm really excited. I'm really happy to be working with day one. But I'm also really, really, really excited about what me and BYD is going to do in the future. So shout out to Daniel, shout out to Chelsea, boom, shout

Yohance

out the agency. Yeah. So now how do you balance passion projects? Like you have your film saltwater, right? And how do you balance getting that work done? But also getting the commercial work done? Is it okay, we need to get this money to fund these ideas? Or is it we need these ideas so that the people that are going to pay us can see our talent, you know, what do you prioritize? So

AP

balancing passion projects and commercial work, I got four bullet points for you. Sweet, be aggressive about your personal work, and your timing around it. Plan ahead, save, and then leverage your onset relationships to help work on your passion work. And I think it's so important that like, I get these opportunities to, like, build with different people and learn, learn from different people. So that when it's time for me to work on my next script, that I know the team, I know what we're gonna do, and I know he's gonna be able to bring it to me bring it to life, the best, you know. And then on top of that, your passion work sets the tone, like a lot of times we have, I would work on a passion project. And then, you know, it was slow before that. And then when it goes out that your boys up and they'll be like, Yeah, you know, is it and, um, you know, I started a production company called equator, equator studio, is now we have a creative agency and product with production capabilities. But, you know, we started at first so that I can have the support of a production team, you know, it was just me at first and now we're able to, like, also tap into other people in our community and be able to give opportunities, you know, to other DPS, other directors to like, see through some of the visions, and what the fruits of our labor, so I'm really excited about, like, what that'll be able to do for people in our community. You know, once you create that work, people come knocking on your door, and then you're like, what, like, why, and then you're like, they're like, Yeah, saltwater go crazy. We trying to see you do that with this lens, you know, and then you do that all over again. And for me, I try to make it like a passion project a year. Right now I'm working on a feature documentary with the dope artists great friend of mines, Kennedy Yanko. Coming soon. And what I'm working on another project with a really dope actor, Siddiq, Sanderson. He was a Ghostface on Wu Tang. Also another amazing, you know, upcoming artists that's just like, really trying to think ahead of their career, you know, really trying to think ahead of what it looks like to document stories that feeling native to you know, him and oh, just people of color. You know what I mean? So, like, I'm really excited about working on these two projects this year. So yeah, I try to try to at least get a project a year in sweet, sweet. And

Yohance

so just I think this might be my last question for you. But just to speak to the younger creatives out there, correct me if I'm wrong, but you started out at Vox media? Um,

AP

no, I started out at equator. You started out equator. Yeah, I was doing little odd music videos. I was, you know, shots touching drugs. Russ is so like, he was one of the artists who was like, Yo, I want you to shoot my music video. I was 1819 my ultimate like, 21 I was like, 21 years old in college. And, you know, were able to create some projects with a notable person. And French Montana then, you know, was behind my lens. And then walay and then Rihanna. And then you know, even Chris Brown Pharrell, just carrying my camera down to Soho. You know what I mean? So, yeah, once you're out there, once you have a camera once you're in the realm, like just shoot, just shoot, talk to people. Shoot, talk to people. But what was the question again? I could go down the rabbit hole.

Yohance

I was wait basically I was gonna get to and you added clarity to the question. So started out at out at equator and you make these moves to Vox but you ultimately are getting back to building your studio. Yeah. And so what did those different steppin points like Vox media being one? What do those mean to the career as a creative if you're speaking to other young creatives that are looking to follow in your footsteps, Okay,

AP

number one, like we said earlier, focus on your passion work, your passion projects or projects you're gonna start off with, feel really good about them. Somebody's looking, you know, put yourself in a position for people to see it. After I went through that phase, a friend of mines who I was working with maybe a town that her name is Nia, she introduced me to, I believe the editor in chief at the time Britain, Britain about a lab and then ended up getting a job as you know, a DP Vox media, I did DP editor you know, that gave me another platform, I was able to like soak up the structure of what, you know, being out of agents, being at a company, like Vox would be like, you know, how do I need to organize my files? How do I need to be speaking to clients? How do I need to format my emails, and then it's the practice work, I was in a studio every day, coming up with lighting skills, lighting, what you call it, just coming up with different lighting sets for different shows that we had. And that was super duper helpful and me understanding, you know, lighting, I didn't get to like, work under, you know, a gaffer, but I did get to work with some state of the art state of the art equipment. Everyday I lost media. And then upon leaving there, there was like, oh, no, I'm not to focus back on what I'm doing here. You know what I mean? That's the one thing I worked before that. So I went back to working at equator. I mean, this is now that I am not in contract with Vox, I was building the equator, the whole time I was at Vox. I had a seven UK contract with Joe and the juice. And I was in North American video team. So they will have to fly me out. And you know out that permission from my team to be able to go and work on these projects. But like, you know, like, I was still working on balancing work life and my own work. And that's also a tremendous shout out to Ashley Simone Leslie, my wife, she's executive producer, and she don't play, you know, she was making sure I was locking in those contracts while I was slaving away at work. And when I got home, I got to work some more awesome stuff that are really, really, really fucked with, you know, and also be able to pour some of that new information, I was able to soak up at Vox there. So

Juriel

I love what you said about like the importance of personal work because I think for us creatives, it's really what is going to give us identity and like give us value in the future, especially as like, you know, AI is coming out like just kind of building your own voice, having your own passion, having your own genuine voice in your work to make sure that you have value. So yeah, I really appreciate that advice. And I also want to ask to like just to bring it back to your work, I'd love to hear about your favorite project.

AP

My favorite project would be okay, I have a few favorite projects. I love all my work to be honest, like, I sometimes my my family get annoyed because I'll be like, Did y'all watch this? Now let's watch it right now. Like, it'd be like, just because like it's documenting a moment or a time in my life that I can point out like I was going through this or a time where I've personally you know, elevated my work to commercial status, you know, or editorial status. So, I will say what project I will say Ashya was a really important project for me. That happened before Salt Water. Ashya is a film that is celebrating the matriarchs in our community and matriarchs can look like, you know, somebody from the LGBTQ community community, it could look like your mother, it could look like your grandmother. It could look like your sister. And I thought it was super important to like, think about like how they were social, how the LGBTQ community was impacted during the pandemic. There was a lot of stories about how you know, trans women were getting killed, you know, out in the streets, and I'm like, Okay, we got a lot of support around, you know, black men like, but it takes a real ally to be able to also, you know, divert the attention from them to also be like, also here too. So, you know, this is all a chain reaction, you know, we're like a press, and then we're oppressing others. So I just really wanted to create Ashya, which means it's good, like, soul, soul light and good vibrations, is what Ashya. And I was able to just pull a few people from our community like Bethann Hardison, who is the godmother of fashion, you know, like, she puts so many people on and, and she was in a battle of Versailles, you know, this is major, she was like, one of the first black fashion models to be a part of that, and like, you know, work on movement with them. So, to have her in the film, as a grandmother, really, you know, set the tone for me and, like, made it make sense. I'm like, Yeah, you would have gotten mother's fashion. You know what I mean, like you're a matriarch. But also, we had other characters, like Tatiana Mugler, who's the leader, who's in a house called mu glare, and she evokes. And she's a trans woman, and it's just a phenomenal person. But that relationship between her and her uncle, you know, who are just another male figure, where they can't look her in the face, you know, where they can't speak openly about them, you know, what I mean? It's like, what I was challenging. And, and yeah, I just felt like, I felt really empowered, in that moment to speak about something that was just a little bit different from what was already out there. And Salt Water was like, you know, cool, because we got to reimagine what it's like for families to go on vacations in 1930s. And working with House of Almo, and that was really special, because their brand is kind of built around this. So like fleshing out the characters, we already know what they're gonna look like. First off, I worked with a lot of models on it, not so much actors. So that was the only difference. And it was like, there was no words. It was, we did voiceover. And, yeah, it was like purely visual. But we got to, like, we created this iconography, while the iconography was already there. But like, it was like a religion, these religious writings that would like transport them to a safe space, a safe space, where they can actually be joyful. Because if you think about it, like in the 1930s, or early 1900s, you're black, and you're going to the south, you know, you go to the Jim Crow South, to go meet other black families and other people, you know, maybe try to find a lover, you know, like, the all of that was hard, you know, like, what did you have to go through to actually get there. So we just wanted to create something was we can transport them in a space to their and I felt like, that's when I realized that I love like, this surrealism in my work, you know, like this magical surrealism that can, you know, just help prove that, like, it's much more than, you know, these humanistic way the human ways that we can actually like, see and feel like, I mean, see or touch like, it's, it's, it's less physical and, and you can dream more. So? Yeah, I was happy that like, I was able to work on that project. And, and now in my work is kind of still there, you know, religion, magic. Spirituality is it just kind of a constant motif with them our work?

Juriel

Yeah, I love to hear that your work is really centered around like history in a way community, and also giving like this genuine voice and story to maybe these communities or people who don't always get that platform. So yeah, we really appreciate your work.

AP

Thank you so much, man, I am most important, like, I just, I just feel like it's important for us to archive what we're going through what this moment is right now. You know, it's, there's a lot of differences happened. There's a lot of things happening that already happened in this world, you know, that we want to that we should be able to, like, see ahead and be like, No, we're not going to go in this direction again. You know, and I think a big part of like films is like, sometimes predicting that and sometimes stating that, like, this is this, you know, so when you see it in real time, acknowledge it, you know, so that's how it works. That's our job.

Yohance

Thank you. I appreciate you for coming out today and sharing with us we got 50 minutes of audio and we could keep going to dive into but we're gonna have to cap it off here and bring you back another time. This is Design on Air. I'm Yohance here with my wonderful co host.

Juriel

Hey it's Juriel.

Yohance

AP say peace to the people.

AP

Yeah, peace. Never stopped doing what you love. And if you don't love it, don't do it.

Juriel

Some good advice.

Yohance

Ashya. There we go.

AP

Lemme get some noise.