Home Theater United Podcast Home Theater United with Brian Dobbs and Sam Posten

Home Theater United
Episode 47
December 21, 2023, 2023 6:00 PM EST
Re-Introducing Brian Dobbs, founding cohost and cohost emeritus of Home Theater United and new Documentarian with his film Blue Planet Red - 
Intro by Sam: Welcome back Brian!  You have been busy moving cross country and back and now have your first film under your belt!  Blue Planet Red is on sites like Vimeo and purchaseable as an honest to goodness self authored Blu-Ray.  Tell us as much as you can without spoiling Blue Planet Red
What the heck sent you down this path?
How has the initial reaction been?  How hard has it been to build an audience? Sam Loves it!
Tell us about working with Swarm
You had a model shoot in the desert for the film, with amazing drone photography.  Uh, whaaaat?
The scientists are real characters.  Were you expecting that?
Are you going to film festivals? Trying to get it on Netflix or other streaming services in the future?
What was your production like? Did you do everything yourself? Tell us about the tech specs of the bluray
How can our viewers watch it? 
What’s next for you?
Anything else you would like to talk about or promote?
Quick Good Bad and Ugly
 
Background info:
https://blueplanetred.net/
https://twitter.com/BrianCoryDobbs/status/1737642166967746642
Vimeo
vimeo.com/ondemand/blueplanetred…
 
Blu-ray
/blueplanetred.net/store
 
Two-Page Summary 
//blueplanetred.net/store
 
Website
/blueplanetred.net
 
Quick Good Bad and Ugly:
Sam - Barbie
Brian - The Eternals

What movies do you consider to be Hidden Gems?  Join host Sam Posten and guests Todd Erwin, John Rice and Josh Steinberg as they highlight 3 movies each which they feel deserve wider exposure and acclaim than what they got theatrically or on home video.
 
Sam:
The mistAntebellumInside man
 
Todd:
Solo: A Star Wars StoryGhostbusters: Answer the Call Grand Canyon
 
Josh:
Rope
Tomorrowland
Sunshine
 
John:
A Monster CallsPaper TownsNever Let Me Go
 
Plus we play a new game: "Know what's mad? That I have never seen THIS movie" and a whole new (not really!) Good Bad and Ugly!

The show returns after a 6 month break! We are BACK, baby!
Todd Erwin joins us once again to talk about his picks for best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, focusing on TVs and other Home Theater gear.
Plus Todd announces the launch of his own new show, coming soon on Youtube!
ANDDDDDD we will have cohost emeritus Brian Dobbs back soon to talk about his new feature length documentary, Red Planet Blue!

Home Theater United
Episode 44
March 6, 2023, 2023 7:30 PM EST
Introducing immersive recording artist and storyteller Brent Watkins
Introducing Brent Watkins a musician focusing on immersive audio experiences 
Intro by Sam: Welcome Brent, you bill yourself as an immersive recording artist and congrats on the launch of your website and second album!  What does the focus on immersive music mean to you and what kind of music are you creating? 
With Apple’s new focus on Atmos it seems like a major shift has occurred. Previously artists wanted front heavy experiences mimicking a stage performance and now they want the listener to be in the middle of the storm. Do you think this is sustainable and is the new normal?
The example I use is Tom Sawyer where you literally hear the drums in a 360 experience.  Besides your own work, what are your favorite immersive music experiences?
Are you 100% self produced, do you have other artists joining you in your work?
You recently built a dual purpose home recording studio and home theater! That sounds amazing, what can you tell us about how you built that and what kind of gear you are using?
The barrier to entry designing immersive music continues to fall down.  What does your workflow look like? How hard / expensive is it for a new artist to move from stereo to build their first tracks?
Is Atmos mastering something you can ‘add at the end’ or do you think you need to think about the room for every track from its inception now?
How do you manage folks listening to stereo vs immersive headphones versus full 7.1.4 home theaters?
You also produced two documentaries!  What can you tell us about them and how folks can find them?
You do all this on your own time while working full time.  How do you juggle it all?
What would you like to see in the next evolution of sound technology (ie atmos) or music production?
Anything else you would like to talk about or promote?
Quick Good Bad and Ugly
Quick Good Bad and Ugly:
Sam - The Fabelmans
Brent - A.I. 2001

Home Theater United
Episode 43
February 20, 2023 7:30 PM EST
 
Introducing the HTU Budget Challenge #1 - (Target time about  1h but will go as long as is fun):
Intro by Sam: Welcome two Todds, two Johns, two Rices and a Sam.
Round Table DiscussionWhat is the budget challenge?Who was invited to participate
Who can participate following the show?
What are the rules?

Budget 1k
Budget 5k
Unlimited Budget
Anything else you guys would like to talk about or promote?

Quick Good Bad and Ugly
 
Quick Good Bad and Ugly:
Sam - Licorice Pizza
Todd Rice - Elvis
Todd Erwin - Empire of Light
John Rice - The fallout
John Philips - Beowulf

Director and Producer (and Editor!) Bryan Storkel from SideStilt Films
Meeting up with Bryan Storkel from SideStilt Films:
Intro by sam: Welcome Bryan Storkel.
Interview:You bill yourself as both producer and director here plus you do editing too.  How do you juggle so many hats? Are you the lead writer on these as well? 
What’s your origin story in the industry, did you graduate from making shorts? 
PEZ Outlaw just landed on Netflix (and is available to buy on all major stores)!  What can you tell us a bit about that project and your role on it? How in the world did that come to your attention? I watched it last night and it’s got a lot of heart.
Woah, IMDB says your “Legend of Cocaine Island” documentary is being transformed into a movie with Will Ferrell? Is that true?  What’s the current status on that? Is this your first foray into commercial features?  How excited are you to jump to features?
Are you a home theater guy yourself?  What’s your setup like?  How about movie theater viewing? Got a favorite local spot?
What’s up next for you career wise and./or for your studio?
What else in your background should folks dig into? That doc on Christian card counters sounds wild and has gone into my “to watch” list. You seem to have a foot into the sports documentary world too.
Anything else you’d like to talk about or promote?