Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-just don\u2019t see if that if you\u2019re disabled or you\u2019re visually impaired, whatever you\u2019re trying to do is going to completely limit you, maybe there\u2019s a way of doing something in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please welcome Juan Alcazar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time it started going south for me, I was still in that denial phase where I\u2019m like I don\u2019t need a cane, I don\u2019t need training, etc., because, well, I\u2019m not blind enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Filmmaker and YouTuber from a low vision, blindness perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I try not to be too hard on myself, as well, because I can get a lot of, I don\u2019t want to say, well, I hate to say the word inspiration, but I get a lot of thoughts and ideas of things that I might want to do later on. Granted, they\u2019re not gonna be the same as how they did it, but I can do them in my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Sharing his creativity with videos and filmmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Remember why you\u2019re doing something, because it\u2019s easy to say what you\u2019re doing, but when you start wondering why, it really just starts kind of like peeling back the layers, and that\u2019s when you realize that even if you\u2019re in a rut, if you know what your why, if you know what it is, you\u2019re gonna be able to get through any sort of rut that you have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And his lifelong journey with vision loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
I\u2019ve been trying to study braille as much as I can, but for some reason those grade two contractions kind of freak me out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Now please welcome, from JC5 productions on YouTube, Juan Alcazar. We hope you enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay, maybe you do need O and M training, maybe you do need assistive technology training. You know what, as much as I resisted it, it ended up being one of the best decisions I\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff, sped up:
All right, everyone in positions, in positions, cameramen, get ready to roll, ready? All right. Quiet on the set!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff, slowed down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan Alcazar, on Blind Abilities. Take one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff, sped up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And action!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I\u2019m Jeff Thompson. In the studio today, we have Juan Alcazar, and he\u2019s a YouTuber, filmmaker, and he\u2019s out there in California and I\u2019m in Minnesota, so I\u2019m kind of jealous a little bit right there, probably enjoying the warm weather. How\u2019re you doing, Juan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey Jeff. Doing pretty good actually, and yes, I am enjoying the weather, it\u2019s pretty comfortable and sunny over here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah. I can\u2019t complain because I have choices. I could join you, but here I am. It\u2019s all right here, it\u2019s actually 40 degrees today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
That\u2019s not bad. I mean then again, that\u2019s cold for us in California, so I mean, who am I kidding?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, so Juan, you are a filmmaker and a YouTuber, what\u2019s the difference between the two?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, a filmmaker is, I mean it\u2019s pretty self-explanatory, it\u2019s someone who creates films, usually you know, they can be independent, they can be working for Hollywood, it\u2019s just someone who creates the stuff that you watch on Netflix and the movie theaters, etc. They can make stuff online as well, but YouTubers, that\u2019s more of a – you know, you\u2019re more of an independent creator, you\u2019re not restricted, but your platform is YouTube itself, so you do have the freedom to create whatever content you want, like short films, sit-down videos, things like that, so I guess in a nutshell that\u2019s what I would say is the difference between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
So it\u2019s like a playground, an affordable playground where you can be creative and put your stuff out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, pretty much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you\u2019re making these, are you, you know, you\u2019ve gotta have a passion for what you do, I mean, what I do, I have a passion for, and I\u2019m sure you have a passion, that\u2019s why you\u2019re doing it. But do you do it from the approach that you want people to enjoy it, or are you doing it because you\u2019re curious and you want to see if you can capture this and put it down, and you know, high-five yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I do it more for just the, to kind of experiment to see what I can and can\u2019t do. It used to be when I started off the first time it was just me trying to see well, let me make some short films on here, let\u2019s see what happens, or then I went to doing comedy sketches, doing other things, but the more time passed, the more I got focused on just what I wanted to do, and yeah, I mean for the most part right now it\u2019s just to see if I can reach out to an audience that\u2019s not just blind and visually impaired, but also a sighted audience, to see if I can somehow mix in this whole thing of the blind and visually impaired topic as well as the filmmaking and storytelling aspect of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So like when we\u2019re watching movies, usually audio description is something that\u2019s done as an afterthought or a compliance type of deal, where you are probably blending both at the same time, from creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, and the funny thing is I wasn\u2019t introduced to audio descriptions until just a few years ago, but the thing is it really made me think about just the whole filmmaking process in general, because here I am, someone who went to film school, who was taught a visual form of storytelling, it\u2019s the whole thing of a picture\u2019s worth a thousand words, but the thing is what happens when not only you\u2019re the one that\u2019s visually impaired but also a lot of your audience is too. How do you not alienate them so that\u2019s when I started thinking okay, maybe I can try to incorporate maybe, not audio descriptions because YouTube doesn\u2019t let you do audio descriptions yet, but the thing is what can I do to help incorporate something that doesn\u2019t feel alienating to the visually impaired audience, so I had to get creative, and one of those was a couple of short films that I made where the narrative was done via screen reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. \u201cReconnecting.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, \u201cReconnecting.\u201d It started off a couple of years ago, as just a story about a guy and a girl who are just friends and they\u2019re just having a chat-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Screen reader:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey, it was fun. I had a good time and the company was awesome, ha-ha. Send message. Messages now. Kelly: Would be nice to go out again and have a meal. Don\u2019t get me wrong, ordering food is great, but I miss going to a restaurant. Hey. I\u2019m sorry and hate to cut this short, but I have to get going. Gotta start getting ready for bed in a few. Send message. Messages now. Kelly: Okay, but I just want to say, please don\u2019t hesitate in talking to me if something is bothering you. I\u2019d rather hear from you rather than not hearing from you at all. True. Here\u2019s hoping we meet in person whenever this is over. Send message. Messages now. Kelly: Would be nice. I know you\u2019re not much of a hugger, but you\u2019ll be getting one whenever I go over there. Wouldn\u2019t mind one to be honest. Smiley face. Send message. Messages now. Kelly: Miss you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
It was inspired a lot by, I used to see a lot of ads where there were just text message conversations, and that\u2019s all they were, so I was like okay, what if there could be like a screen reader or voiceover equivalent to this text message conversation, so I thought let me try it out, let\u2019s see if it works, let\u2019s see if it doesn\u2019t work, and it got some, it got some praise, not praise, it just got some good feedback, and I got some requests to make a sequel, so I decided to make a sequel, but this time I kind of did it in light of the pandemic, so the pandemic was a part of the storyline, and that\u2019s basically why the couple can\u2019t see each other in the sequel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Great, and you did another storytelling that I saw, a cane\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, that one was, I wasn\u2019t sure whether to do that one or not. On paper it sounds like a silly idea, like have the cane narrate a story, and I\u2019m like okay, yeah, that sounds a little weird, and have a bunch of- a visually impaired YouTuber, and visually impaired friends send in clips and pictures of their canes, so I was like, no one\u2019s gonna want to do this, but then I thought, you know, you\u2019re not gonna know if you don\u2019t try, so I did that. There\u2019s a few folks who some of the listeners might know, Dr. Emmy Cavanaugh was one of them, there\u2019s a few YouTubers like HowCaseySeesIt was another one, there\u2019s a few other ones who slip my mind at the moment. I also got Roy Samuelson to do the narration for the cane, and it turned out pretty good actually, I was really proud of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cane:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first glance, you may not think much of me. A tall, thin, white stick that sometimes folds up and has a golf club-like handle. Okay, so a few folks like to customize me, so I can be a different color, but I digress. At the bottom I may look a little funny, with a tip that looks like a marshmallow, or a cue ball, or even a small metallic disc that could be mistaken for a coin. Like I said, not impressive at first glance. But for some, I\u2019m an important part of their lives. I\u2019m that set of eyes leading the way for those who view the world in less detail, making sure the path is clear, detecting hazards ahead and telling them what texture the surface is like. I do my best to guide my owner in this visual world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some reason, I\u2019m more proud of the stuff that I make with other people than the ones that I do on my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Every time I think about a cane talking I think of Roy, now. That\u2019s the voice of Roy, that\u2019s the voice of a cane, I\u2019ve heard that voice before! That\u2019s really cool, to be inclusive to the community, to bring it into the community, and to think that just a few years before that you really weren\u2019t part of the blindness community, I heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, a lot of it has to do with the whole denial phase, because so I have retinitis pigmentosa, and the thing is with a lot of us who have RP, the vision tends to slowly go, and the problem with that is yes, I was born with bad vision, but the thing is it could always be corrected with glasses, and when I was in film school, it was also corrected with contact lenses, and then I switched to glasses afterward, but still, I was able to see pretty well. Now the thing is, by the time it started going south for me, I was still in that denial phase where I\u2019m like I don\u2019t need like a cane, I don\u2019t need training, etc., because, well, I\u2019m not quote-unquote blind enough, and I think we\u2019ve all had that phase, well, not all of us, but a lot of us have had that phase where, like, we don\u2019t need a cane or we\u2019re not blind enough to use one, but I finally decided, you know what, I actually do need a cane, because I\u2019m having trouble seeing things, so I just decided to go for it, but that wasn\u2019t the only factor that got me to embrace the whole visual impairment aspect of just my journey. After seeing folks on YouTube who were visually impaired or blind themselves posting content, I was like you know what? Maybe I, maybe there\u2019s a platform for me after all, because at first I really didn\u2019t want to talk about my visual impairment because I thought that was just going to detract from my filmmaking. I didn\u2019t want to be known as \u201cthe blind filmmaker\u201d on YouTube, because like I said, I thought that was just gonna take away the attention, but then the more I thought about it, I was like wait a second, you do realize that maybe you can use this to your advantage. Maybe you can tell your story from this perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
And who knows your story any better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly, so I just went for it, and I haven\u2019t looked back since, no pun intended. I\u2019m pretty happy where I am right now, and I actually do enjoy making a lot of the videos because I like doing a little bit of education, but also just being able to still be creative and tell stories at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
You know, telling stories, you know, goes way back. Cavemen, probably, wagon trains. You always see those stories of someone telling stories, but when you\u2019re capturing a story or thinking of a story to tell, how do you grab it from just that thought bubble and bring it down into, not just into reality, but into a form, a figure, a shape in your mind that you can achieve, rather than being a pipe dream, you have to bring it all the way down to achievable goals, how do you do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Well, that\u2019s usually a case of just starting off with a big idea and then kind of just bringing it down and down and being realistic, because I mean, I would love to make a big-time Hollywood movie with a bunch of helicopter shots and stuff like that, but in reality it\u2019s like you don\u2019t have the budget for that, so let\u2019s scale it down, let\u2019s actually tell a simpler story, because really I don\u2019t think a lot of people realize that simple stories can go a long way, and they can be just as effective as a more complex story, so I just think that I see what my limitations are, and I just try to work best within those limitations and I just try to make the best of it, like with the \u201cReconnecting\u201d film, I was stuck indoors, and I was like okay, let\u2019s try to make something that kind of reflects that a little bit. Let\u2019s take that disadvantage and try to turn it into something that you can tell a story with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. And use the tools you\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I mean, I do wish there was an accessible DSLR, or a more accessible DSLR camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Now, when you\u2019re talking about that, you\u2019re talking about a high-end camera, DSLR, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, digital single-lens reflex camera. Those are the ones that are like still-picture cameras that you can swap lenses with. Yeah, it\u2019s those cameras. I really wish that there were more accessible cameras like that, but the thing is I just don\u2019t think the manufacturers really think that a blind person would be taking pictures, let alone filming videos, but put some accessibility features in there, you never know. I mean, like maybe add a screen reader. A lot of these cameras are touchscreen-based already, so maybe add something that is screen-reader-like, voiceover or talkback as well? I don\u2019t know, just add something, because as much as I would like for there to be just a camera for blind and visually impaired folks, it\u2019s going to be a very expensive camera for a very niche audience, and yeah, I\u2019m just hoping that the manufacturers start adding more accessible features to their cameras, because, yeah, there\u2019s some blind folks who want to shoot video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I always see these little articles like some person shoots entire film using iPhone. Okay, they do that, and Apple kind of promotes it a little bit, but you must know the difference between a professional camera and the iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Well, with the optics of the latest iPhones, they\u2019re getting pretty close actually. Well, then again, I mean, you\u2019re probably asking the wrong person, because it\u2019s like, I can\u2019t just be putting something side-by-side and be like okay, well the way this looks, this looks like, yeah, I mean, good luck with my vision, but I really wouldn\u2019t hesitate if the iPhone and the app Filmic Pro was fully accessible. I mean, it\u2019s getting there, it\u2019s accessible right now with voiceover, but the thing is there\u2019s still a few features missing here and there, but they\u2019re pretty close to being accessible to the point where I might actually swap my DSLR for the iPhone sooner than later, because I mean, to be honest, the iPhone\u2019s just because that much of an accessible camera for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, accessibility seems to be everything. I mean, that\u2019s how I do what I do and people wonder why I haven\u2019t changed up and moved onto different things because it works. When you\u2019re setting up, I mean, there\u2019s so many factors in camera lenses, lighting, everything like that, you know, I\u2019ve seen some videos when I could see much better, the lighting\u2019s wrong, there\u2019s glare, do they call the lights diffusers, or I don\u2019t even know where to begin with it, but what does your studio look like to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Well, the gear that I have, it\u2019s pretty simple. I just have four soft-box lights, I have a Canon camera, I have a zoom H4N audio recorder, I plug in a Sennheiser ME66 microphone so I can get pretty good audio, because I tend to be pretty snobbish about audio, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Well, I get pretty snobbish about video too, but obviously my filmmaker side\u2019s coming out a little bit every time I hear your podcast, because I\u2019m hearing your podcast and I\u2019m like how\u2019s he getting that audio, what mic is he using? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isn\u2019t that fun, though? Isn\u2019t that fun listening and watching other people\u2019s stuff, whatever you\u2019re doing? I sometimes miss the show or miss what\u2019s going on because I\u2019m listening for the details, the little things, the transitions, all the parts that make up the whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, yeah, especially when I get bored, if I get bored watching a movie or a TV show, I sometimes get distracted, I start getting self-conscious of huh, why does the lighting look like that, or why does it look blue here, or why is the sound design, you know, why is the audio like this, or why did they put the music at this point in time, you know, it\u2019s nice to be able to realize all those components, but like they told us in my first day of film class, they told me, your film viewing experience is never going to be the same after taking this class, because it\u2019s like learning the magician\u2019s tricks and knowing how they\u2019re done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now with the pandemic and everything, like, \u201cReconnecting,\u201d that one is a pandemic story, you\u2019re just drawn into it. It\u2019s kind of a loneliness thing, kind of the fatigue of the pandemic, everything, so I recommend anybody to go to JC5 productions on YouTube, there\u2019s a bunch of them. I\u2019ve seen one that was eight years old now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which one was that which one- I\u2019m curious now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something like 31,000 downloads, or- I was on my phone and I was just going down, I was looking to see how far back it went, and I saw that that was eight years ago, and I thought well, he\u2019s probably done a little bit of improvement, let\u2019s go up to something that\u2019s a week old or something, and you did the end of the year thing, I thought that was really cool how you transitioned throughout the year of things that happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, I tend to do those videos at the end of the year, sometimes I\u2019m like do I really want to make those, or maybe not, because they have a short shelf life, and this year, well, this past year I told myself no, you are not making an end of the year video because it\u2019s not worth it, you didn\u2019t do a lot, and then I saw a few of my friends doing end of year videos so of course I went. I had major FOMO and I was like nope, you\u2019re putting this last minute thing together, I don\u2019t care if you pull an all-nighter the night before, you\u2019re putting a video up now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan (video):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey, what\u2019s going on? So, I wasn\u2019t gonna do a video for the year-end of 2020, because, well, it all started well, and the world just stopped. But you know what, there were still a lot of positives from this year to, well, talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
It\u2019s kind of neat, because you weave throughout the year, and you already have that content, and now it\u2019s just up to you to just throw this in and that and blend this in or whatever you do, but also the music, the sound, everything. I think it\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, I mean, and for this one I wanted to kind of give it a flow so that\u2019s why I kind of tried tying them all together. I don\u2019t normally do that, but with this one I wanted to do that. Just flow better, because, you know, I like doing things like that, I don\u2019t like it to be just, you know, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. Yeah, tightening it up, because you don\u2019t have two seconds of just dead space, you keep on trailing right through it, all the way to the end, and you go oh, I want to see another one. I like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
When you\u2019re looking at- some people say if you want to be an editor in podcasting, it\u2019s like a one-to-four ratio, for every hour it\u2019s four hours. What\u2019s it like in the video world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s something similar to that, actually. That\u2019s one thing that I try not to do, I don\u2019t try to overshoot because I know, sometimes I want to get like the quote-unquote \u201cperfect take,\u201d but then again I know it\u2019s going to kick my butt in the editing room, because I\u2019m just like why did I film this, and there\u2019s been a few times where I\u2019ve tried filming something, and I\u2019ve tried like, filming like four, five, six times, and I don\u2019t end up using it. And the funny thing is I sometimes end up substituting it with a much simpler shot that\u2019s less complex, and that one ends up making the final cut, instead of the one I was more ambitious about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. Yeah, I know what you mean. I\u2019ve tried to be on interviews, not this one, but I\u2019ve tried to be on interviews where you\u2019re trying to get the information out of someone, and everything, and you go for an hour and a half, and you get done and you really don\u2019t have much, because you didn\u2019t know, so I guess I\u2019m not hard on myself. It seems like you\u2019re at these with your skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
I wish I could say that, actually. I\u2019m my biggest critic, to be honest. I tend to have quite a bit of imposter syndrome, because I have this bad habit of comparing myself to others, and I look at a lot of my influencer friends in the blind community who are posting their stuff up, whether they\u2019re blogs or videos or just other stuff, and I\u2019m just like wow, they\u2019re doing some amazing stuff, and then I\u2019m looking at what I\u2019m doing and I\u2019m like yeah, you could have done better with that, is that up to par with you know, what so-and-so is doing? But I try not to be too hard on myself, as well, because I can get a lot of, I don\u2019t want to say- well, I hate to say the word inspiration, but I get a lot of thoughts and ideas of things that I might want to do later on. Granted, they\u2019re not gonna be the same as how they did it, but I can do them in my way, like I can talk about how I\u2019m learning braille as an adult, and that\u2019s not going to be exactly the same as another video from someone else who made a braille video. So yeah, but still, I am my own worst critic and I sometimes tend to be pretty hard on myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I think it\u2019s really neat when you start looking at other people, how they do it, to get ideas, to listen to things, it\u2019s hard not to pay attention to other things when you\u2019re doing the same stuff all the time anyways, and you take from it a little bit, give you ideas and stuff like that, it\u2019s just the wild, wild west right now, with the pandemic, because it seems like a lot of people have time experiment and get some stuff out there, I see a lot more YouTubers out there, lot more podcasters out there. I think it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Oh, yeah, no, it definitely is. And this is a bit off topic, but I do hope that because of the pandemic, because so many people are working at home, and just doing stuff remotely, I\u2019m really hoping that the accessibility is something that is more in the self-consciousness of the general public now, because before it used to be that when someone had a request for, you know, working remotely or some sort of accessibility need, they would say no, we can\u2019t do that, we can\u2019t afford it in the budget, but now everyone\u2019s doing it, so I\u2019m hoping that accessibility is more at the forefront because of all this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, yeah, right away everyone\u2019s being able to use it, Zoom made theirs pretty accessible when you\u2019re using that platform. I\u2019m wondering how many employers went oh, we have no problem with Timmy. He\u2019s already up and running, because we\u2019ve been doing it this way for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, and what I just hope doesn\u2019t happen is once everything goes back to what we hope is normal, that accessibility doesn\u2019t get pushed by the wayside again, and people are ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah. If someone\u2019s out there, and they want to get into a little bit more of videoing, you know, someone with low vision has an interest, has that bug of capturing stuff, I know there\u2019s a lot of people out there and they just love some of the phones that\u2019ll them this is center, that, but some of them might have a little more vision and want to get into some editing, a little bit, and I never suggest anybody get into editing because I do it. There\u2019s other things out there, folks. But if you have that passion, you can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
What I would say is identify what you\u2019re really passionate about, and just go for it. Not just go for it, but see what you can and can\u2019t do, because we also have to be realistic. I mean, like I said, I want to make a five million dollar movie, but that\u2019s not gonna happen right now, so I have to be more realistic. The thing is, I can still make a movie, but it\u2019s not gonna be five million dollars. So just go about it that way, just don\u2019t see that if you\u2019re disabled or you\u2019re visually impaired, whatever you\u2019re trying to do is going to completely limit you. Maybe there\u2019s a way of doing something in a different way. So I mean, there\u2019s always going to be ways to do things in different ways, so just find what you\u2019re passionate about and see what avenues are available in that field that you want to practice in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. I say ask questions, get into the community a little bit, and like you\u2019re always talking about, the other YouTubers out there sharing ideas, and it\u2019s nice to have others doing the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, and there you go, that\u2019s the other thing, network, because like you said, Jeff, a lot of these folks who I started watching on YouTube and reading their blogs, I went from just being a fan of theirs to all of a sudden being friends with a good number of them, and I wasn\u2019t expecting that when I started doing this, but now it\u2019s like I have a good network of people and that could be the case for you as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh yeah, networking. All the people that I\u2019ve interviewed or come in contact in the industry, in the blindness community, it\u2019s always nice to have a rolodex, so you can tap into some of these skill sets that people have, and sometimes it takes a long time to get through something to figure something out, and someone else may have already done it and they\u2019re willing to share a little bit with you, so it goes tit for tat, but networking is really cool, because it makes you realize that you\u2019re not alone. Now, filmmaking by day, by night, whenever you\u2019ve got the time to do it. What tools do you use outside of filmmaking for daily living?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Well, I\u2019m a big fan of Apple products, so for the most part when I\u2019m just doing my non-filmmaking stuff, I\u2019m on my iPhone, iPad, or I\u2019m on my Mac. Yeah, I\u2019ve invested in the orchard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
There you go. Welcome to the orchard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, so I\u2019m a heavy voiceover user. I mean, while I do have some vision, I still think it\u2019s useful for me to use voiceover, especially when I\u2019m finishing a long day of filming, I can\u2019t film as much as I could just because I get migraines, and I can\u2019t be editing with the screen on half the time because I get migraines, so this is where voiceover comes to the rescue for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, and I have to admit, through my journey through losing eyesight, it changes. Two years from now or two years ago, it\u2019s different, but voiceover really doesn\u2019t change because if you build it in or find time to do- just like braille, if you start to incorporate it, or incorporate any type of alternative technique, you\u2019ll get better at it, so, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Which reminds me, I have to brush up on my braille, because I\u2019ve been trying to study braille as much as I can, but for some reason, those grade two contractions kind of freak me out, but I know I\u2019ve got to get them memorized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, yeah. My teacher for braille had me read the last book that I read as a sighted person, and that way I kind of, I knew what the book was about, I was kind of pushing my finger along, because I knew this was a good part, but I had to take it word by word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Oh, man, that sounds pretty brutal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
But I\u2019ve told this story so many times, the other thing is some girls wrote some notes on my locker and stuck them on there, so all the way home I\u2019m on my Metro ride I was reading, getting out my translation card and figuring out what, anything that inspires you to read more, I would suggest that you get a pen pal or someone like that, it\u2019s kind of fun. It\u2019s kind of fun when you do it outside of having to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, because then it doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re actually studying, it feels like oh, okay, well I\u2019m learning something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know, you mentioned a lot about passion before, like if someone works for a company to produce a video for this, they go in, they put in their nine to five, when you have a passion for what you\u2019re doing, I think it\u2019s really great, because you are driving your own ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
It\u2019s true, it\u2019s true that you\u2019re doing that, because like for me, if I\u2019m editing a video and for some reason I\u2019m, you know, it\u2019s almost 12 midnight, but I really want to get this thing done because I\u2019m on a roll when I\u2019m editing, it\u2019s like I don\u2019t care how late it is. I mean yeah, granted, I\u2019m gonna want to fall asleep soon, but still, I want to get as much done of that video as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, yeah, you\u2019ve got all the parts moving at once, time to lock her down. That sounds like fun, it\u2019s just like podcasting or anything else anyone else has out there, follow your passions and all that. So they can follow you on Twitter, and I got this right I think, JC12209?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uh, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
JC5? You love the- okay, you\u2019re the man of numbers, aren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
A little story about that, actually, so my channel used to called 12-29 Productions, so 12209 Productions, but then somebody told me \u201cYeah, change that, because that\u2019s just gonna be confusing,\u201d so I\u2019m like you know what, they\u2019re right. JC5 is just my initials and my favorite number, there you go, how\u2019s that sound? Much easier to memorize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There you go, JC5 Productions, that\u2019s on YouTube, JC12209 on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if you want to follow me on Instagram, it\u2019s the same thing, JC12209 as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
That\u2019s great. Juan, why don\u2019t you tell me a little bit about your journey with RP, it started to happen and you are where you are today, but it must have been quite a road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
It definitely was. It\u2019s one of those things where when you\u2019re younger and you have an eye condition you don\u2019t really realize that you can\u2019t see well until someone points something out. In my case it would be when someone would tell me oh, let\u2019s go see the meteor shower, or whatever, and at one point I went, and I\u2019m just like, I\u2019m looking, looking, looking, yeah, where are the meteors? And they\u2019re like oh, there\u2019s one, there\u2019s one, and I\u2019m like where? Are you messing with me here? But then that\u2019s when I started realizing, oh, yeah, you kind of can\u2019t see well in low light or the dark, and yeah, that was one of the first cues where I realized okay, something is going on. And then I realized that oh, okay, you have a bunch of blind spots in your peripheral, you can\u2019t see things very well unless you\u2019re looking at them directly. If I have a glass of water, if I set one down in front of me and someone happens to move it a few inches and I\u2019m not paying attention, I\u2019m like wait, where did it go? Did I put it across the room? It\u2019s like, no, it\u2019s just a few inches away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, wow. So it kept changing on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, so I\u2019m my own magician, though, at least I can say that I can do my own magic tricks in front of me and just bewilder myself, I\u2019m like oh! There it is! Okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, you\u2019ve got RP, I\u2019m totally different where I have no central.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, you want to trade for one day just so we can be envious of one another and then go back and be like ah, darn it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
For an example, for example like apartment buildings used to have those peepholes, like someone knocks at the door and you can go look through that little lens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right, right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like, RP people can look through those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Where that\u2019s like totally opposite. I can\u2019t look through a paper towel roll. Hmm, the center\u2019s gone, so I\u2019m the totally opposite of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
It\u2019s kind of-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, that\u2019s gotta be tough too, though. But then again, it\u2019s always, you always think it\u2019s tough when you think of something you don\u2019t have, because you\u2019ve kind of adapted to the way you\u2019re seeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
You said you were in that denial stage, and what did it feel like when finally you realized it may have taken a while for you to just accept it, accept your blindness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Well\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I\u2019m gonna play violin music during this time, so\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[violin music starts]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I\u2019m kidding. I\u2019m setting the scene. You mentioned at a certain point you realized when you couldn\u2019t see the meteors, then later on you realized you needed your contacts, your glasses, and all of a sudden it was like okay, I might need a cane, I might need to address this denial thing and see what\u2019s on the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That happened to me when I was told they don\u2019t make soft contact lenses that go up to your prescription anymore, and that was a little while back, but then when they told me yeah, your glasses – since I do wear glasses – yeah, they don\u2019t go up any higher and they\u2019re not really gonna correct your vision anymore, that was another sign. And the third sign was hey, you\u2019re kind of losing vision in your right eye a little bit, so at this point, I can still see out of my right eye, my good eye is my left eye, so if I try reading anything with my right eye, it\u2019s not gonna work, so my right eye\u2019s kind of going along for the ride. But somewhere in between the eyeglasses and the right eye was when I realized okay, okay, maybe you do need O and M training, maybe you do need assistive technology training. You know what, as much as I resisted, it ended up being one of the best decisions I\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
What was it like when you first went to get training?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, to be honest I felt a little bit like a fraud, because I was still in that whole, like, I\u2019m not blind enough phase, and I think a lot of us have gone through that I\u2019m not blind enough phase, but then, the more I thought about it, I was like okay, you know what, you can\u2019t really see well at night, you can\u2019t really see well sometimes during the day, so, yeah, dude, you\u2019re legally blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Was it kind of a relief, though, when all of a sudden you started accepting it, and adjusting, and kind of like normalizing it to yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Oh, definitely, because it just felt like I had nothing to hide from myself, because I really was just hiding it from myself, I was trying to convince myself that you\u2019re not blind enough, that you can still see, but now that I\u2019ve embraced it, I\u2019m just like you know what? No, this is your life now. It\u2019s not coming to an end, it\u2019s just you have to do some things differently, and you\u2019re gonna have to make some adjustments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
What\u2019s it like when you see someone wearing the shoes you once wore as they\u2019re coming along their journey with RP?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Part of me wants to say something to them, but at the same time I think to myself, you know what, it took me, I had my moment of revelation, so it might take them a little while to come to theirs. So eventually it\u2019s really up to them, but I mean, part of me does want to say something. I mean, I could give advice, but if someone\u2019s still in the denial phase, the last thing they want to hear is someone like me saying like oh, it\u2019s not really that bad, it\u2019s not really that bad. They\u2019re gonna be like yeah, go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, you\u2019re talking about a 12 year journey of transitioning from little bit, little bit, little bit, and then finally accepting. Everyone has their own journey and it\u2019s really hard to tell someone what to do, because everyone\u2019s journey is so different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly, and the thing is, because no two blind people see the same, no one\u2019s journey is exactly the same either, so that\u2019s what makes it unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Juan, could you share with us a little bit of advice that you received during your journey that\u2019s stuck with you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things that I remember being told is, and it\u2019s a very important piece of advice, is remember why you\u2019re doing something, because it\u2019s easy to say what you\u2019re doing, but when you start wondering why, it really just starts kind of like peeling back the layers, and that\u2019s when you realize that even if you\u2019re in a rut, if you know what your why, if you know what it is, you\u2019re gonna be able to get through any sort of rut that you have. Like for me, my why is I want to be able to put stuff out there that could help someone who might have a vision problem, or who\u2019s creative and they don\u2019t know what to do. That\u2019s one thing I didn\u2019t have a focus on a few years ago with my YouTube, I was just, you know, throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck, but very, very, ironic use of vocabulary, but coming out of the disability closet, things came into focus, so like I said, no pun intended with that one, but.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, it\u2019s true!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
I like how things came into focus when things went out of focus in reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Now you come across a lot of people that are learning new technologies, and you mentioned you like the Apple orchard. I think this year, it seems like voiceover\u2019s gone on steroids lately, especially, you know, of course, for only Apple users, but it seems like there\u2019s been a lot of attention lately making voiceover kind of like more unique to different types of users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Meaning just like to different blind users or just to users in general?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
It just seems like now, where the iPhone is today, people can more personalize their phone to their disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
It\u2019s true, it\u2019s true, because now the fact that you have something like LiDAR, and you can change screen recognition, or if you want this image described in an app you can change that up too, and you can, you know, use BackTap to do all sorts of different commands that you want it to do, so I like the customization of voiceover. There\u2019s a few things I don\u2019t use, but there\u2019s a few things that I do use, so although I do kind of hate it when I accidentally double tap the back of my phone and I don\u2019t even realize it, and next thing you know my shortcuts come up, and it\u2019s like no, I did not BackTap you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh yeah, yeah, I kind of forget what the triple tap is because sometimes I drop it down, you know, set it down at an angle and something pops up and I go what\u2019s going on? You know, and I have to grab my phone, oh, okay, okay, my calendar events just came up. It\u2019s a nice problem to have, though, all this accessibility stuff, especially 14.3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, it\u2019s pretty awesome, actually. There\u2019s nothing better than when I know there\u2019s an update because I really geek out, I\u2019m like there\u2019s an update! I must update everything all at once, but then I\u2019m complaining, I\u2019m like why is it taking so long to update? Yeah, \u2018cause you\u2019re updating everything all at once, dude. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you use smart invert?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do, but the thing is I\u2019m using voiceover on my phone and iPad and my Mac 90% of the time, so I\u2019m using it like that more than the low vision settings, but I do like zoom magnification, I do like smart invert, so those are great features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, Janelle from Trinidad and Tobago sent us a message on time and she was saying that the smart invert was goofed up, I think it was in 13, but I think they got it all fixed up now, working good for them. It\u2019s nice to have options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, there was a bug that I caught one time, I forget what it was, but it was doing something to my watch, I couldn\u2019t do something on my watch, and I ended up calling Apple Support, and they told me that the bug was due to smart invert being turned on. I would have never thought of that being a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm. That seems to be one of the best cures, though, is like going to people\u2019s phones and turning things off for a little bit, seeing what- especially since 14 came out and if someone\u2019s running a phone later than 10S or 10R, newer than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Although I will say that if you are using voiceover, don\u2019t have zoom turned on at the same time, because then you\u2019re gonna find out that triple tap does something very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mm-hm. You almost have to shut voiceover off to get back to voiceover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, exactly, so it\u2019s a good way to prank someone, but at the same time, it\u2019s also a good way to just confuse the heck out of yourself if you forget that you turned zoom on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Well, what happened to me is when Apple came out with the LiDAR on the phone and they had people detection, well, the magnifier, you could put it into your shortcuts, to turn on voiceover, I used the three clicks on the side button, well, once magnifier was put in there, it was like okay, now I had a choice, so if I went one way or the other way, it was like okay, I don\u2019t want that, I just want voiceover to come on. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah. I try to make sure that I only have one way of turning a feature on and off, because if I do it multiple ways it\u2019s just gonna be, it\u2019s just gonna confuse me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, we\u2019re at a point now where if you lose two seconds it\u2019s too much, too much. I\u2019ve got one other thing, I always tell people if you want to get people\u2019s attention you\u2019ve got seven seconds, you know, like on a podcast, and I notice when I\u2019m listening to your videos you start out right away, pretty much. You hit \u2018em right off the bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, that\u2019s a tip that I was given both in film school and in a workshop that I did for YouTube, so usually they tell us that when someone\u2019s watching a TV show it\u2019s like the director or the creator has about a minute or so to catch the attention of the viewer, otherwise they\u2019re just going to, you know, change the channel, or just hit the back button and go to pick some other program. With YouTube, you have a much shorter timeframe, you have like maybe 10 seconds. If you don\u2019t catch the attention in those first 10 seconds, someone can just easily click the back button and they\u2019re like nope, nope, took too long. So that\u2019s why I try to hit the ground running immediately and I try to do what I can to keep the pacing as quickly as I could, I don\u2019t want to go too quickly either, but at the same time I try to keep the pacing steady so it doesn\u2019t bore someone, because that\u2019s what I\u2019m afraid of the most, it\u2019s like am I boring someone? Am I rambling too much?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, all those thoughts. And you\u2019re talking about eight seconds worth of video and you have 700 thoughts going in your mind to get it down. I do that too, I call it the cadence, there\u2019s a cadence to things sometimes, and it just rolls, like if you have that music going. I notice on yours, especially on the \u201cReconnection,\u201d you have a flow you mentioned earlier, but that flow, it draws you and it keeps you- you don\u2019t want to interrupt that flow, and you\u2019re doing a good job at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Oh, thank you, that\u2019s something I\u2019m really critical of myself, actually, because you can\u2019t really analyze this stuff when you\u2019re doing it on your own, because you\u2019re so into it that you don\u2019t know if you\u2019re doing a good or bad job, so it\u2019s nice hearing that feedback, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Well, I think it\u2019s getting noticed because I see you\u2019re out there on Twitter a lot, excited to reach out and get you while you\u2019re still not making your five million dollar films, and yeah, I can say I knew him back when he was a \u2018tuber, YouTuber!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actually I think the irony is that five million dollars isn\u2019t that much in like Hollywood standards, but hey, that\u2019s an independent film, I\u2019d be happy to make a five million dollar independent film, so I\u2019m a happy camper if that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
So Juan, what are you working on, what can people expect to see from your YouTube channel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
So I\u2019m working on a little review of the FilmicPro app from an accessibility point of view-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan (video):
The filmmaking app FilmicPro has gotten accessible with voiceover, so basically, anybody who\u2019s visually impaired who\u2019s an iPhone user and a screen reader user can now make movies with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
[swipe noise]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hey folks, what\u2019s going on? So in case you don\u2019t know, FilmicPro is a filmmaking app which shoots footage in 24 frames a second, aka cinematic quality. This is something that the iPhone native camera cannot do at the moment, so if you want to-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
So I\u2019m going to be demoing it with voiceover, just to see what\u2019s accessible, and what can be fixed or what needs to be worked on, so I just want to cover that, and I did hint at another video during the interview, subtly, I\u2019m gonna make a video talking about what it\u2019s like to be learning braille as an adult, and two more. I want to do a video where I show how I edit on Final Cut Pro, with voiceover. I don\u2019t know if I want it to be a tutorial or if I just want to show in general, so I\u2019m still debating on what to do there, because I think that would be really interesting for, you know, most people don\u2019t even know that Final Cut Pro can be used with voiceover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Most of the time, now, I\u2019m editing with voiceover with the screen off because I\u2019m just like, you know what, I\u2019m not even gonna- it\u2019s a simple edit, I can just chop it up and if I need to add captions or if I need to add titles then I\u2019ll turn the screen on, but for the most part, nope, it\u2019s off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, really? That\u2019s really cool, because every time- well, not every time, not that I do it a lot, but when I\u2019m buying like a Mac, I just got this one, right at the bottom of the thing, Final Cut Pro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Right. Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
199 dollars- no, it\u2019s more than that. It\u2019s 299, maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, it\u2019s 299, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah. Well, the other one is Logic-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Logic, yeah. Logic Pro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Logic Tech, Logic Pro. That one\u2019s 199. So it\u2019s always like, nope, I\u2019ll save my money, but I always pause at Final Cut Pro, like huh, is it or isn\u2019t it? But it\u2019s nice to know that it is accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
It is, but the thing is you had better set up hotspots on the interface, because you\u2019re gonna be doing a lot of VO left, VO right.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, you\u2019ve gotta set hotspots to- I mean, the thing is that it\u2019s divided into different windows, so I just set up hotspots in different windows, because it\u2019s like if I need to jump back to my library I just hit hotspot number one, if I need to go all the way down to the timeline it\u2019s hotspot number four, so yeah, it takes a little bit of getting used to. Yeah, most of the commands are your general Final Cut Pro keyboard shortcuts, so it\u2019s pretty nice, although I do wish they had a few commands that were voiceover compatible or that were more compatible with voiceover, so I guess the last video that I really want to put out, I\u2019ve been working on this since June, but I\u2019ve been terrified to put it out, is if I were to design an accessible camera, movie camera, what features would I put in it, like how would I design it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And at the time, since it was June, I was like oh, we\u2019re gonna put LiDAR on this, and I\u2019m explaining what LiDAR is, I\u2019m like okay, I don\u2019t need to explain what LiDAR is anymore, because everybody and their mom knows now, so things have changed, so I have to tweak it now with all the changes, so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, by the time you get it developed they\u2019ll have that camera on the shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what I\u2019m really hoping now is that if Apple ever puts out the Airtags, I\u2019m really hoping that they\u2019re able to work with the camera itself and that it\u2019s able to tell you- and with the LiDAR, so it can tell you how far it is and you know, what the height of like the actual, where the tag is, so-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
So the three factors- there\u2019s a few factors that are keeping a blind person from filming a video on their own. Focus is one, but the iPhone does that. Leveling is another thing, but the iPhone does that too. But framing, the iPhone can do that but FilmicPro can\u2019t, so it\u2019s more like can we get some of these native iPhone camera settings into FilmicPro and vice versa? Because that would be great, so that\u2019s all I\u2019m waiting for, just so there can be kind of a hybrid, because I even said in a tweet that Apple and FilmicPro are basically like two or three features from making their camera fully accessible, at least for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
You bring up an Airtag, you bring that up. That would be interesting, if a camera could actually find that and keep focus on that, like a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, and also use the point as a way to tell you like, you know, where it is in the frame, like how it can detect faces? If it\u2019s able to do that with the airtag, like if you\u2019re trying to film something nearby, you can even use the airtag itself as a marker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Or even in your mount, if your mount was a 360-type motorized mount, that it could self-keep the focus on a moving thing too, if it had the right tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Exactly, exactly. I mean-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I\u2019ll work on that tonight and send you the plans tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So now I know who to talk to as far as stuff goes on- okay, so Jeff is the one who has the real answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Yeah, but when tomorrow comes and goes, revisit that thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know, tomorrow you\u2019ll be like I heard no such, I heard no such suggestion from you, Juan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
I had, is there something called a gimbal or something like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, mm-hm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
And that\u2019s like a gyroscopic type of mount where it kind of turns and twists and it\u2019ll focus on a person and follow them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, it\u2019s basically kind of like a Steadicams, like you know, a much smaller Steadicams for the phone, so I mean, it\u2019s pretty nice, but the thing is I\u2019ve heard people say it\u2019s very gimmicky, so like, give it a few years and no one\u2019s going to be using gimbals anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, yeah, so depends on if you want to spend one, two, three hundred dollars on something that\u2019s disposable in a couple years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Nice to see this technology moving in that direction though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Yeah, yeah, so- and I told Roy about this, that if Apple somehow pulls this off with the camera, it\u2019s like as much as I\u2019m a fan of Apple right now, do you realize how much of a much bigger fan I\u2019m gonna be of Apple if they pull this off?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh yeah, buy the whole tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s like I might as well have it right now, I mean, like I said, I have the Macbook Pro, I have like I said, the HomePod, the iPhone, iPad, my Apple TV\u2019s over there, and I\u2019ve got the airpods sitting somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
You like the HomePod?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, I mean, like I said, it does what it needed to do. I know what it can\u2019t do, so knowing the limitation, yeah, knowing the limitations and just working within them, I\u2019m pretty happy with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, that\u2019s good. I know the technology that\u2019s built into- I know a few people who are audiophiles, and they say the technology that\u2019s built into the big HomePod, they say it\u2019s about a 3500 dollar stereo system. For them to build it and put it into room to do what it does, I\u2019m not saying that sound is that-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
But they said that technology that\u2019s built into that, that goes into that, is pretty high tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Oh yeah, I mean, just the weight of it alone shows that this is a pretty expensive piece of equipment. Although I do have to mind in the- I can\u2019t turn this up too loud, because I\u2019m really surprised at how much that woofer works, I\u2019m really surprised. Yeah, because I turn it up to like maybe 15%, maybe 20%, and it, yeah, if I\u2019m playing something that\u2019s very base-y, it\u2019s almost like if I turn it up a little more this thing can probably slightly rattle walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Holy cow. I\u2019m really into the Apple stuff, and I read all about it, it\u2019s the one thing I can\u2019t believe I didn\u2019t pull the trigger, I see them all the time, 299 right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, I didn\u2019t pull the trigger before the mini was announced, because I heard a rumor of another HomePod, but I was like you know what, I\u2019m just gonna get this one, and I don\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s what matters, that\u2019s what matters. Well, I like what you\u2019re doing, I like how you started networking with everybody, it seems like you guys are having a good time doing what you\u2019re doing, and anybody out there, check him out, JC5 Productions on the YouTube channel, good stuff. Juan, I want to thank you so much for coming onto Blind Abilities, and it\u2019s been great having you, and I\u2019m excited to catch some more videos from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks so much, Jeff, for having me on here, it was an honor to actually be on this podcast. And for those of you still here, here\u2019s some quality bonus content, a terrible Rene Ritchie impression. Here we go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan (impression):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apple\u2019s iPhone is the world\u2019s most accessible phone, bar none! Filmic Pro is one of the world\u2019s leading filmmaking apps. So I thought to myself, wouldn\u2019t it be hella awesome if both of them worked together? Basically, porque no los dos? So I\u2019m gonna share my thoughts with you in this video! And I\u2019m gonna share them right now. Sponsored by nobody!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juan:
Let\u2019s see if that impression is good. Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff: [Music] [Transition noise] -When we share<\/p>\n\n\n\n -What we see<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Through each other’s eyes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<\/p>\n\n\n\n …We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email<\/a> or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities<\/a> Check out the Blind Abilities Community<\/a>on Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a> group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Full Transcript Juan: -just don\u2019t see if that if you\u2019re disabled or you\u2019re visually impaired, whatever you\u2019re trying to do is going to completely limit you, maybe there\u2019s a way of doing something in a different way. Jeff: Please welcome Juan Alcazar. Juan: By the time it started going south for me, I was still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6556","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-1HK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6634,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6634","url_meta":{"origin":6556,"position":0},"title":"Easterseal Disability Film Challenge Creatives Talk about the Experience, Challenge and Disability in Films","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"April 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript First woman: The files is- I can't edit. How am I supposed to format it for me? Jeff:\u00a0 Cut to guide dog girl. Second woman: It keeps saying image, image... Jeff: Cut to tech guru. Third woman:\u00a0 No worries, I'm on it. Hey, I don't have time to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5503,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5503","url_meta":{"origin":6556,"position":1},"title":"Rachel Carver – Outlook Business Solutions: The Capabilities Of the Visually Impaired in the Workforce.","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"October 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Show Summary: Rachel Carver:When I started here, it was nice to be looked at for my abilities instead of, \"Oh look at her. She has a cane in her hand.\" Jeff Thompson:Please welcome Outlook Business Solutions, Senior Specialist, Public Relations, Rachel Carver. Rachel Carver:It is neat for me to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5002,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=5002","url_meta":{"origin":6556,"position":2},"title":"Career Expo: From College to Blindness Training and Not Living Within 10 Minutes From Home, Meet Teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Beth McGarr.","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"May 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff Thompson:Welcome to Blind Abilities. 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That\u2019s what you get from me. 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Jeff Thompson:I was at a convention and met up\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6557,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6556\/revisions\/6557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Really enjoyed connecting up with Juan Alcazar, and you can too by checking out his channel on YouTube, JC5 Productions, really good stuff, go check it out. Be sure to check out the show notes for some other links on other ways to connect up with Juan Alcazar. And for more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com<\/a>, on Twitter @BlindAbilities, and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store or Google Play store. Remember, that\u2019s two words, Blind Abilities. And if you have any feedback you want to give us or just want to drop us a message, you can give us a call at 612-367-9063. We\u2019d love to hear from you. A big shout-out to Chee Chau for his beautiful music, you can follow Chee Chau on Twitter @lcheechau. And from all of us here at Blind Abilities, to you, your family, and friends, through these challenging times, stay well, stay safe, and stay informed. I want to thank you for listening, and until next time, bye-bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\nContact Your State Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Contact:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a>
Send us an email<\/a>
Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store<\/a>and Google Play Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n