We were lucky to catch up with Justin Joseph Hall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Justin Joseph, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

I loved making movies, just for fun. I didn’t realize I’d make any excuse to make a movie and I didn’t need one. In high school I finally made projects just for myself. But I still didn’t realize I could make a career out of it. Finally in college I had some teachers who had been in the business from Minnesota, where I lived and grew up. From then on, I pretty much knew what I wanted to do.

So starting out, I just looked around me for opportunities at the school. Someone may have contacted me. I never wanted to own a business, but being freelance and working in the arts, that’s what you’re doing, albeit on a small scale.

Someone asked me to film and create a video of an Indian College Club event at the University. I went and produced everything, shot it all, did sound, and went back and edit and color corrected the piece. I spent a lot of time making the opening sequence using the lights for pretty visuals and I believe I also created a DVD menu or something fun with it. I learned, I think I did an ok job recording and got paid about $300 for my week or so of work on the project. Equipment was covered by the university as well as editing, so I didn’t have much upfront costs.

I may have forgotten about the project if it were not my first. Experimenting I used the techniques I practiced on future jobs. You learn something each time you tell stories as storytelling is complicated and nuanced. Get paid and get better!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The way I got into my major in college, was I was looking to major in about 5 areas: Statistics, Performance Music, Physics, Psychology, and Cinema. I took introduction courses to each of the subjects and chose Statistics and a Media major at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

It really took one semester from Robert Silberman to entice me to learn more about media. His class was a Film History class and I’ve been obsessed ever since. From the passion I’ve lead my podcast Feature & a short to do a yearly series on movies that pushed cinema forward the most as an artform in each decade. We call it The Fresh Air Award and have done 4 decades thus far: 1900’s, 1910’s, 1920’s, and the 2010’s. We plan on covering the 1930’s this December to be released in early 2024.

What sets me apart from others is the care I take to engage the audience. It’s what I’m always concentrating on. I think of it as making it a downhill ride to engage anyone. Keep the story moving and only indulge in a feeling or a moment if it’s been earned. Listen to the audience and as networks know: clarity is key. Audiences need to be able to follow the story most of the time fairly easily to keep them engaged.

Not only that, but high quality audio and video are important. It’s possible to make visuals reflect the story and add to the story instead of just sufficing. Through all the tools of editing, color, special effects, graphics, we enhance and emerse the audience with every bit of detail. Same goes for audio. Make it sound like you’re telling the story audio-wise by using all the tools available. This starts with capturing a high quality product which has fidelity to endure into the future.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Yeah, just making it in the industry is difficult. But making it without financial fallback and with a mountain of student debt moving to a place you don’t know left me with one month of financial flexibility. Each month I didn’t work I’d go into more debt. Which I don’t believe ever happened until recently after I left a job and had a kid.

Otherwise debt did hover over me, owing student loans, while trying to make it as a Director. First time directors basically need to fundraise or pay their own way. You need to show you can make something before you’re given time or money to do so. I didn’t go to a film school, so I started from scratch after college. I had a few things I’d shot.

Because I focus on quality and hi-fidelity on what is captured, that costs money and time. I don’t compromise on this. It costs me much money and time to create the projects I have created, eating into my finances. But I kept pushing forward.

From nothing I’ve invested over $100,000 into my movies and have recovered a portion back of that with more potential in the future. I’ve accumulated numerous awards and awarding reviews and reactions from audience members from my personally funded projects. I don’t want to stop investing in my movies and events that I hope have significant impacts on those who watch them.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society to support artists is to ask them about their projects first and foremost. Go see them. If you like them, spread the word, tell friends about it. If the project is for sale get your friends to pay to see it. It means the world.

If you have the means support artists by investing in their projects before they finish. All artists need support and financers to be able to take time to explore incredible work and document the incredible lives we live here on our planet. If you love something you’ve seen, ask about the next project and if you can help financially or via work that’s needed, do so. If you invest enough in a larger project, such as features, you can even get money on the back-end if the project ends up making money. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: fourwindfilms.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fourwindfilms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fourwindfilms
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fourwind-films/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/fourwindfilms
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fourwindfilms/videos
• Other: Feature & a short: https://www.fourwindfilms.com/feature-and-a-short/

Image Credits
Photo of Justin playing guitar: Gaby Compaoré All other photos by Justin Joseph Hall