Van Neistat
Working To Code is the movie series designed for employees of the Tom Sachs studio referred to henceforth as the studio
This is how 10 Bullets, one of my favorite videos on Youtube begins.
If you haven’t seen this film yet, you will find some familiarity with Casey Neistat’s older videos. Casey is Van’s younger brother and Van helped produce 10 Bullets.
I particularly like Casey’s older videos that carried this low-tech aesthetic — videos before his daily vlog days. Here is an example of Casey making a Custom Pennyboard Suitcase.
Casey eventually developed his own style that is great for youtube. I think Casey understands attention in the Youtube world better than most people do. But this post is not about Casey, it is about Van.
I think the low-tech production of 10 Bullets is timeless in the way they do special effects. They are not trying to show off their special effects budget or Final Cut skills. They talk about an idea and show it in a plain and natural way. My brain is making a weird connection here as I write — I am thinking of how Scott Carrier writes. Plain but clear, with impact. Lasting.
Another good video from the time of 10 Bullets is the Nautical Challenge on Tom Sachs’ youtube channel. It shows all three people — Tom, Van and Casey. Think about this video foretelling a trajectory of where Casey and Van have ended up.
The trajectory I want to highlight here is Van Neistat’s new channel — The Spirited Man.
It has the timeless style of low-tech production from the 10 Bullets videos. And there is something refreshing about that.
I went to school for engineering, and engineers like me will recognize the principles of 5S in the way Tom Sachs’ studio is set up in 10 Bullets, and also in the way Casey and Van’s studios are set up. A place for every thing, labels everywhere, shadow boards… etc. Engineers are all too familiar with this way of organizing. The difference I notice here is the strong will of an Artist coming through in the organization of the workplace. I think Steve Jobs called it the intersection of liberal arts and technology. In all the places where I set up 5S ended up with neat lines on the floor and printed labels. Instead, Van’s and Casey’s workshops have hand drawn lines and hand written labels which add life to an otherwise dull process of organizing things.
I think this artist-in-action is rare to find in our ever saturated world of DIY’ers and makers.
Something honest comes through in The Spirited Man.