Ad Infinitum S4E06: Footprints in the Sand with Jordan Brady on AI, Craft & Bill Burr's Ads

"While the craft phase can be difficult, that is not always the case.

There are some artists whose focus is more on formalizing an idea than executing it, and in the case of some projects, outsourcing the craft phase is what's called for.

Many of Andy Warhol's paintings were done by other artists and by machines-

I was gonna bring, that's the first thing that came to mind

...

while he supplied the ideas and retained authorship," full stop.

Yeah.

That's perfect for right now.

Well, delegating the craft, you're still the architect of the vision.

You know, I'm a commercial director.

I don't know much about the fancy cameras and the lighting, the techniques that scare me, but if I hire the professional cinematographer and she does that and the gaffer does lights and the sound per- I don't wear the headphones.

I let, I go, "Is the sound good?" And the sound person goes, "It's great." I go, "Perfect." So in a way, I subscribe to that.

Delegate the craft so you can focus on the art.

I have found that's more my way of working.

Mm-hmm.

I think that's why we work so well together, is that what I think of in my mind is, 'cause I was, and we'll get, we'll get to this, that I was in the mixed local 493 out of St. Louis working on, like, direct response commercials and corporate stuff and a film every once in a while in the Kansas City area.

Uh, I don't think I ever had a producer come out to the grip truck and make sure the cables were coiled properly or that the heavy sandbags were in the front and the whatever, like-

Yeah

... uh, in the right place or that the junior stands are with the junior stands and the baby stand.

Like, they hired us.

We brought the truck.

We took care of the truck.

We brought the stuff to the set, and we set it up.

You know, nobody's coming and going, and that's what ki- it, it, it can feel a little different when it comes to different areas, but it's like I trust them to do the work.

Trust is the key word.

"While the craft phase can be difficult, that is not always the case.

There are some artists whose focus is more on formalizing an idea than executing it, and in the case of some projects, outsourcing the craft phase is what's called for.

Many of Andy Warhol's paintings were done by other artists and by machines-

I was gonna bring, that's the first thing that came to mind

...

while he supplied the ideas and retained authorship," full stop.

Yeah.

That's perfect for right now.

Well, delegating the craft, you're still the architect of the vision.

You know, I'm a commercial director.

I don't know much about the fancy cameras and the lighting, the techniques that scare me, but if I hire the professional cinematographer and she does that and the gaffer does lights and the sound per- I don't wear the headphones.

I let, I go, "Is the sound good?" And the sound person goes, "It's great." I go, "Perfect." So in a way, I subscribe to that.

Delegate the craft so you can focus on the art.

I have found that's more my way of working.

Mm-hmm.

I think that's why we work so well together, is that what I think of in my mind is, 'cause I was, and we'll get, we'll get to this, that I was in the mixed local 493 out of St. Louis working on, like, direct response commercials and corporate stuff and a film every once in a while in the Kansas City area.

Uh, I don't think I ever had a producer come out to the grip truck and make sure the cables were coiled properly or that the heavy sandbags were in the front and the whatever, like-

Yeah

... uh, in the right place or that the junior stands are with the junior stands and the baby stand.

Like, they hired us.

We brought the truck.

We took care of the truck.

We brought the stuff to the set, and we set it up.

You know, nobody's coming and going, and that's what ki- it, it, it can feel a little different when it comes to different areas, but it's like I trust them to do the work.

Trust is the key word.