The Quarantine Stream: Potato Jet And Gene Nagata Represent YouTube At Its Most Clever And Exciting
(Welcome toThe Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)The Shows:Potato JetandGene NagataWhere You Can Stream Them:YouTubeThe Pitch:Los Angeles commercial filmmaker Gene Nagata (AKA Potato Jet) explores the world of filmmaking gear and techniques from his own hilarious point of view.Why It’s Essential Quarantine Watching: Potato Jet is a difficult YouTube channel to sum up in few sentences. Yes, it’s a YouTube channel focusing on filmmaking gear and techniques, but what makes it essential watching is Gene Nagata’s infectious excitement and out-of-the-box approach to presenting something that otherwise could be boring and overly technical. I watch a handful of filmmaking and photography YouTubers, and Potato Jet is the rare exception that my girlfriend Kitra is excited to watch with me.
His videos range from the latest consumer gear reviews (testing the latest 360-degree action cameraon the fastest rollercoasters in California orputting cameras in an incubatormeant for hatching chics to see how fast they overheat) to stunts like seeingwhat kind of footage a $94 point and shoot camera can achievewith the most expensive Hollywood accessories or testing the latestiPhone camera up against the cameras used to film the latest blockbuster films. His latest video focuses onhow Steadicam operator Ari Robbins is using the world’s most advance camera stabilizer Arri Trinityon films likeLa La Land. And Gene might just accidentally light his hair on fire with a DIY flamethrower during the middle of a camera review – it’s that kind of channel.
I’ll never buy any of the expensive Hollywood gear that Nagata regularly uses, and honestly, I have little interest in the stuff he explores about the prosumer range, like remote-controlled submarine camera drones or Black Magic rigs. The videos are so much fun that the gear doesn’t matter. It’s the personality, not the topic. I discovered Potato Jet looking for camera and vlogging advice as Kitra and I have been experiencing our own YouTube journey with the creation ofOrdinary Adventures, and have since binge-watched his entire back catalog of videos.
I guess I’m cheating a bit by recommending not just one YouTube channel, but two, for today’s Quarantine Stream. But I own this place, so who’s gonna stop me?
Recently, Gene decided to launch his own personal vlog channel,Gene Nagata,which focuses more on his daily adventures than the gear (although the filmmaking interest of Nagata is always present). I’ve found myself more excited to watch the everyday vlogs showcasing the adventures of Gene, his trusty assistant/friend/editor Sam, his lovely girlfriend Kari and their cute dogs. Sometimes its a travelogue vlog from a trip to Mexico or Thailand (remember travel?) and other times it’s testing out a cheap $10 drone or learning that someone stole his motorcycle from his front yard (yup, that saga. was caught on video) or attempting to record a 24-long straight vlog with no cuts. It’s more ordinary and less focused, but somehow more appealing.
