Understanding The Vision with RDCWorld1

Aaron Dukes: This is the fifth Dream Con, right? First of all, congrats. Proud of y'all. Which year of Dream Con was yall’s favorite and why?

Johnathan "John" Newton: I'll say the third one.

Benjamin "Ben" Skinner: I'll say the third one, too. Those first years were different. The first two were in Waco and the second two were in Dallas. Now we're in Austin. But I feel like those first two were really special because it was just so new and fresh. It was like everyone there genuinely felt like a family and it was like a thousand of us. If you were there, you know how it felt. But those first two were really special to me. I'm sure it's special to all of us because of that.

Aaron: With this being the fifth one, what's been the biggest lesson you've guys learned from Running a convention full of different hobbies? Anime, gaming, sports, etc.

Dylan "Dyl" Patel: I feel like you can't please everybody at the end of the day. We got to make decisions. Eventually, we just got to make it how we want at the end of the day and they'll accept it.

Aaron: Where do you guys find inspiration outside of what you do?

Desmond "Des" Johnson: Personally, I find inspiration just by watching movies. Whenever I'm watching a movie, I dive into that world, and at the end, I'm like "Dang, what did I learn from that?" And I'll write it down and I go try to imitate that in the background when I'm filming with Aff. I'll show Aff the finished product, then I'll show Mark and we'll just conversate about it and that inspired me to keep on going.

Aaron: How would you describe your style of writing, directing, and filming?

Marcus "Mark" Vincent Phillips Jr.: I really just come up with my own methods. I don't really have a specific process. Sometimes I'll start by writing the end and then work my way back to the beginning or start in the middle and go to the end, then go back. So usually I'll go to a scene. Maybe if I get an idea, I'll write the best scene and then lead up to that scene. That's usually just how I usually do the writing process for any longer video that's over 30 minutes or something. And then directing style, I can't really say I got one yet because we're in so many different genres, it's hard for me to really just stop and get a concrete style right now.

Aaron: I saw your Iman interview and you were talking about how Denzel Washington is one of your favorite actors. What are your top four movies by Denzel Washington?

Mark: Well, number one? I can't say number one, it's tough. But I really like John Q. That's one of my top ones. Training Day, of course. I really don't want to say, like, The Equalizer because I feel like it's like John Wick. Man on Fire, for sure. I'm not going to say it's one of my favorites but I like how he acted in it because it was different and he directed it, which is Fences. It's not rewatchable to me but I just like watching it one time through.

Later on during the interview, Mark decided to take out Fences and add Remember the Titans to his list as the fourth and final pick.

Aaron: Now you guys are doing a Mountain Dew Partnership. Can you talk about that collaboration?

Leland Manigo: They're working with a nonprofit organization called Cxmmunity Media and they're hosting an HBCU Mortal Kombat 1 tournament. And the pot is $500,000. So that is something that is very groundbreaking. And I mean, if I could, if I was able to enter, I would.

Aaron: How would you describe the process of staying committed to something only you guys can see, you can only feel, and manifest it?

Dylan: John's mindset is really strong. It's easy to zero in on and it keeps us all moving towards one goal. It's easy to get distracted by outside things. The Internet doesn't affect us as much as us being around each other every day. It can affect us here and there, but it's easy to come back. We see each other every day.

Be sure to watch the rest of the interview posted above for an explanation of RDCWorld1's personal mantras!