The Neistat Brothers have created a show that is understated, honest and unassuming. The brothers had the idea for their show ten years ago. They combined their income tax return and purchased an iMac computer, which had the ability to edit video. After they had the equipment they produced 200 short films.
The Neistat Brothers is an HBO series that features real life siblings Casey and Van. They credit a multivolume book about film, from the famous director
Jean-Luc Godard, for influencing them. Their films vary greatly from destroying a wall to gain more space for their studio to building a simple remote-control boat. Casey and Van are open with the audience about their techniques and have even filmed their make-shift operation, which uses a lot of duct tape.
The Neistat Brothers reveal that the show is about their lives, but they have not created a reality show. They don’t cut moments and scenes to create false drama. For example, Van decides he’d like to talk with his biological father, who he hasn’t seen since he was three. Van spontaneously arrives at the restaurant where his father works and instead of adding dramatic music or cutting the film to increase the emotional aspect of the moment, the brothers shoot the meeting in a parking lot from a distance. They only used the audio recording from inside the restaurant for the episode.
The Neistat Brothers have created an interesting show that is completely real and gives viewers an inside look into real family dynamic.