Podcast
Bacon Wrapped Avocado: Creativity UnWrapped
Hosted by Laurel Mojica · EN
Are you an artist in search of other artists who are working to make their passion their career? Are you interested in the work-life struggles of other creators? The gear, software, or workflows used to create animations in Unreal Engine? Real-world feedback on different marketing strategies and platforms?
In this podcast, Jose and Laurel Mojica, co-founders of the Bacon Wrapped Avocado VR animation studio, talk about their creative journey, the technology they’ve used and are still using, their efforts at marketing and audience-building, and trying to start up a business while raising three teenagers, connecting with their two grown children, their aging parents, their siblings, and maybe even a friend or two…oh, yeah, and a full-time day job..
Bacon Wrapped Avocado is a virtual reality animation studio creating content for the Meta Quest Headset and YouTube.
Jose and Laurel Mojica are working with their team, artist Meescha Dare and Unreal Engine developer Giovanni Minus, to launch an app for the Meta Quest headsets that features their family-friendly humor-horror characters.
8episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Pregnancy (hypothetical!), pain avoidance, editing, releasing, and choosing what to work on next
Apr 20, 202500:35:26Tap to summarizeJose and Laurel consider the impact of 2-week-long pregnancies on birth rates as a metaphor for artists avoiding the pain of criticism or rejection. They also discuss which parts of the creative process they each find the most painful, the abundance (or scarcity) of new ideas, and the problem of choosing where to spend creative time and energy.
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Patience with Gear, Brainstorming Mindsets, and an Animation Update
Jan 22, 202500:45:38Tap to summarizeIn the first section, Jose and Laurel talk about how they use their new Fostex RM3-DT Active Rack-mount Monitor with Dante and their Triad-Orbit T3C Tripod. They also discuss the challenges of figuring out new gear.The second section (23:19) contains thoughts on brainstorming inspired by John Cleese's YouTube video on "Creativity in Management", focusing specifically on the mindset necessary for productive brainstorming (and also complaining a bit about those who are unhelpful in a brainstorming session).The third section (34:04) is an update on the studio's latest short (working title "Elle's First Day"), and their continuing challenges in working with motion capture (mocap) gear.RM3: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RM3DT--fostex-rm3-dt-active-rack-mount-monitor-with-danteT3C: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/T3CMicStd--triad-orbit-triad-t3c-tall-tripod-stand-with-castersJohn Cleese: https://youtu.be/Pb5oIIPO62g?si=orkZ-JC-spber9tuBWA's webpage: https://baconwrappedavocado.com/
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Black Friday Sales and Writing Tools
Nov 30, 202400:38:42Tap to summarizeJose and Laurel talk about mics and preamps, Black Friday sales and the history of some audio clones. Then they take a deep dive into some of the pros and cons of writing software: Storyist, Scrivener, Word, and Pages. (Spoiler alert: They use all of them for different things!) They wrap up the episode with a discussion of the somewhat complicated process of writing and recording audio for VR video. Timing is key!
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Creativity Under Stress
Nov 30, 202400:34:09Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Jose and Laurel talk about how negative things can make it hard to be creative, and some of the ways combat that. They also discuss the expansion of their recording area and their new teleprompters. Plus, they give an update on a big milestone for their company: submitting their application for an Epic MegaGrant.Teleprompter: GVM TQ-L Teleprompter from ProcamSoftware: PromptSmart Pro for iPad
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AI: Competition or Tool?
Nov 27, 202400:37:05Tap to summarizeJose and Laurel discuss their experiences with and opinions of Artificially Intelligent audiobook readers, YouTube narrators, and social media post readers; James Earl Jones, Disney, and SAG contracts for actors' likenesses and voices; Awkwafina as an AI voice; AI-generated images; and finally AI assistance in software development.Then Jose manages to segue back into talking about buying gear. (He can be sneaky like that!)
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New Gear, Part Two
Nov 23, 202400:27:48Tap to summarizeAdmittedly, the decision to purchase gear and the effects that it has on our productivity is a favorite topic of ours. Also, I'm pretty sure Episode One was supposed to be a test run but I really liked the way it turned out. This is a longer discussion that highlights different aspects of the decision-making process.
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Marketing...and a bit of our VR workflow
Nov 15, 202400:32:59Tap to summarizeJose and Laurel talk about their most difficult hurdle in creating---marketing! If you've ever poured your heart into a project, then released it into the world to the sound of crickets, you know our pain. So much "how to launch" advice assumes you've already cultivated an audience of hundreds (or thousands), but how do you get them? We also discuss why our VR videos take so long to make. (And if you're wondering why we keep switching between saying we have a team of four vs. five, it's because there are four of us creating new content. Our fifth team member helps us upload our finished content and does research for us, both of which we appreciate very much!) Join us on our journey!
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New Gear--Necessary Purchase or Procrastination Tactic?
Nov 9, 202400:12:08Tap to summarizeIn their inaugural episode, Jose and Laurel discuss the lure of new gear and some extreme views about buying it.
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