Zima Red ep 132: Based AF: Metaverse-native content studio - Robin Schmidt
Primer: With a name like Based AF, you know that they are not your run-of-the-mill project. With 25 years of production experience, find out how Robin Schmidt is building a Metaverse-native content studio in this episode of Zima Red.
Background
Was a musician/leader of the orchestra
When he turned 17, he turned to filmmaking
Has spent 25 years being involved in the different types of production
Worked his way up to make feature films
Got to a point where he hated doing commercials
Entered crypto in 2017
Discovered Harmony and started working for them in the 2018 bear market
Started shooting for The Defiant
Launched Based AF, his multi-media production company
Felt strange as he is now in front of the camera
His Interest In Crypto
Making films made him poor
“There comes a point where you look at what you're doing, and you try and figure out whether its actually worth it anymore. Is it worth struggling to get a feature film off the ground when it's two years of your life?”
- Robin Schmidt
Moved to Holland for more prospects of a better life
Took a job in Amsterdam, which was a hotbed of crypto activity
Had money problems. Saw crypto as a way to earn a lot of money very quickly
Realized he had a valuable skill set that others have not realized yet
On Stories
What Is A Story?
Everyone loves to talk about storytelling but can’t define it
A story is different from a plot
A plot is what happened
A story consists of a setup (the situation and characters) and a payoff (how you feel)
A story needs to have a resolution of some sort to make you feel something
Formulaic Storytelling
Formulaic storytelling adheres to mediocrity
Mediocrity could be made very good with amazing cameras, filters, and tools
You have to follow an internal compass if you want to do something weird and different. If you are not onto something, you have to reject it and move on
The Objective Is To Get People To Emotionally Respond?
“You want to make people cry, you want to make them laugh, these kinds of things.”
- Robin Schmidt
Measure the emotional weight, levity, and the gravity of each situation through the different scenes
Have other points of considerations:
Shoot up-close or wider (for drama and comedy, respectively)
Music or the lack of music
Staging
Cinematography
Does not take himself too seriously. Tries to find the inherent idiocy of what he is doing
When the Ethereum Merge happened, everyone covered it
Wanted to do it in a weird way and told the story of the Merge using tomatoes in a blender
Favourite Pieces Of Content He Created
His work with Feeder, a rock band
The little snippets he has done over the past 2 years
Parodies of Hip Hop using the plots of British soap operas
Based AF
Based on an internet meme of being true to yourself and pushing yourself to the limits
Currently, it’s a new YouTube channel
The idea is to grow it into a media company in the metaverse
Have a PFP collection called the BasedHeads because they needed a motivated core of superfans
The BasedHeads will have their own lore and storyline
Need their superfans to press play on their videos and walk away. YouTube algorithm promotes videos that have been watched in their entirety
Trying to understand the creator economy
The creator economy monetizes its audience, but he’s uneasy with it being a click-based business
Some creators have returned value to their fans who have supported them
Web3 has mechanisms to do it in a more sustainable way (i.e. the NFTs rising in value as the creator does good work)
Will be experimenting with short-form content
Are They The MrBeast Of The Metaverse?
Crass to compare themselves with MrBeast
In terms of YouTube, they have peaked
MrBeast is still growing
People have gotten bored of the spectacle at all costs
More storytelling-driven content is being consumed
Think of themselves as a network with different channels
Have to start from a place of mass appeal, which is Based AF right now
BasedHeads
10,000 BasedHeads
BasedHeads live in Trashland as the metaverse is just a repository for terrible ideas, some of which may stick
Holders will be granted access to future drops (e.g. a physical Fraz drop for Fraz Cola)
Will have hide and seek games where holders try to find him in the metaverse
Will provide their YouTube stats to the BasedHeads for them to provide feedback
Will give holders the 3D models of the characters at a later date
His Grand Vision
Owning the story of the Metaverse
Want to be known for empowering creators to dream and express themselves
The Opportunity In Media, Entertainment, And NFTs
Trying to live that opportunity
Heard on a podcast from marketers about what makes an amazing cult brand:
Need to have a common/perceived enemy
A series of rituals that define membership
At some point, cult brands become mainstream brands and they lose some of the edge
Niko Omilana is an amazing example of a YouTuber who has done that
NFT communities need to forge their own path. Copying what other projects do will get nowhere
Traditional media will do things wrongly:
Try to bolt on NFTs
Come in sensibly and slowly
To succeed, they need to be brash and come in
The AI Content Media Revolution
The problem is that AI is alarmingly entertaining, more so than human entertainers
Does not see it as a challenge
With AI art, people can tell that it’s made by an AI
For ChatGPT, they are thinking of plugging it into scripting Unreal Engine environments
AI should kick people out of the habit of either copying somebody else or looking for the YouTuber that has the answer to their problem
Are We Heading Into A Golden Age Of Content Creation?
The more stuff that is out there, the more chances something good will get made
The challenge is not how it gets made, but how it gets seen
What Is He Bullish And Bearish On?
Bearish
Bearish on Yuga Labs
They raised too much money
Historically, companies that have raised too much money don’t do well
Bullish
Bullish on digital fashion
If a digital garment does well and people want a physical, everything that’s needed to deliver it is already in place
It offers jobs for people to design patterns, creating micro-industries that can grow up around it
Favourite YouTube Video
Niko Omilana’s KSI video
He’s a prank artist
Always try and break into boxing matches, but would get stopped
Dressed up as a KSI energy drink and got into the ring
What Do People Misunderstand About Him?
People think he is cool, but he thinks he is not
Biggest Failure
The feature film he made
Got cowardly on certain decisions and did not push for certain things that he should have pushed for
Defining Success
For Projects
99% of NFT projects don’t have a clear picture of what success is for them
For them, success is measured by subscriber counts
For Himself
Not selling out and keeping to what he’s doing
Want to keep improving and moving on with things
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