Hello all,
I finally got off the dime and shot and posted the first YouTube video on the channel Jet52 with Tim. For a complete unknown and brand new channel I got 154 views which is about 50 more views than I ever thought I would get total. So it is cool to see folks enjoying it.
I’ve had some questions about how I shot the video. Here is the scoop, as said on the YouTube page I shot it with a Canon M50. A great little introductory mirrorless camera. I used the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera. Just sitting on a tripod. It has a flip out screen so I could tell if I was framed right in the shot before I hit the record button and during the segments.
There were several test runs before I got the takes that I kept. I’d play them back and there was so little energy that it looked like I was speaking at a funeral. I did finally use a little teleprompter on the camera that was about $90. It is the Parrot teleprompter. I tried shooting each of the steps off the cuff and some were okay and others were take after take. Finally loaded the script on my photo and used the teleprompter.
Biggest challenge was getting audio remotely satisfactory. I have some recording gear and software but that wasn’t going well. Then I tried a small shotgun mic sitting on top of the camera. The camera was so far away from me (zoomed in for several reasons) that audio wasn’t picking up well. Finally gave up and spent a whopping $14 for a lapel mic on Amazon. It was still a little muffed, but worked out okay for the first attempt.
Then I transferred the footage from the Canon M50’s SD card over to the desktop computer. From there I used a $20 video editing software (free for the basic version) called VSDC. So I learned how to half way use it. The edits took about a day to get ride of all the mistakes. The jump cuts are why you see me pause a little – I never knew if I would have to edit a segment or not. Then it took a second day to add photos and text.
Was I happy with it? Mostly, there are somethings I would change both in the delivery style and the software editing. There is a fairly high learning curve if you’ve never used a video editor. But for a first attempt it is not too bad.
What now? Good question. They say write or vlog what you know and what you love. I get a kick out of the Hallmark Christmas movies. That topic was a no brainer. I just had to get off the couch and get it posted while it was still the holidays. The real trick to it all is in the editing. Now the second toughest part – coming up with a second topic for the next one. Ugh. I don’t know how the vloggers do it that post everyday or even once a week. Probably took me five days total to make this one with all the reshooting.
I’ll write more as I mount the learning curve on YouTube. Thank you again if you were one of the people who watched a part of it or posted on your pages. Very much appreciated. More to come.