Friday, March 27, 2020
Be careful what you ask for, you might get it. I have been harassing one of my clients for more than a year to start recording some videos for her YouTube channel. She has been dragging her feet because she did not feel like she knew where to start, even though I have given her plenty of prompts during the past 18 months or so. I think she had convinced herself creating videos would be harder than it is.
Creating videos is hard work; however, there are so many ways to make it easier. My seven-year-old, Mika, is very proud to have a YouTube channel, and tells almost everyone we meet about it. A few weeks ago, I heard Mika tell a friend it was easy to have a YouTube channel. I looked at Mika and her friend and said, “It is easy because your mom does most of the work.”
Contrary to popular conception, you do not simply sit in front of a camera for a few minutes and then have a video ready to upload to your YouTube channel. A few people can run their channel that way, but the rest of us make mistakes, burp, or have smoke detectors start to ring; we need to edit our videos extensively. Editing videos can take 10 to 20 times the length of the video to complete.
Some styles of videos are easier than others to minimize edits. The volunteers reading my journal entries usually send me a video that only needs a few seconds cut off the beginning and end. My volunteers read from a page they either hold or read from their computer. We are not trying to create the illusion that the speaker has memorized the text; viewers know the words are being read, so a tiny stumble is expected. I can edit those videos in three times the video length. I watch the video once when I get it to make sure it is usable (I have only rejected one video). I watch the video while I am editing it, and then I watch the video again after I edit it to make sure my cuts flow the best they can.
When I record Mika’s videos, I frequently need to give her directions while the camera is running. I do not think the viewers want to hear me remind Mika to show the pictures ten times while she is reading a book, so I edit my voice out. I plan at least five times the run time to edit Mika’s videos depending on how cooperative she was the day we recorded videos.
Getting in front of the camera is difficult. Once again, some styles of videos are easier to record than others. Mika has four types of vides on her YouTube channel at this time. One series features her reading a children’s book, another shows her out doing kid-friendly activities, another looks in on her unwrapping or opening presents, and the fourth highlights a silly joke. Each of these videos is either scripted or reactionary, so you do not need to be “in the mood” to do these types of videos.
Videos in which you want to convey a message are not so easy, and those are the type of video my client is doing. Speaking from the heart is difficult to do on camera. You do need to get yourself mentally prepared when the words represent you. Even though I had given my client many topic suggestions to talk about on a video, none of the topics spoke to her enough to take action until now.
My client is now learning how to set up and record her videos. She is recording the ten videos this project requires, and she is recording them in batches as I suggested to streamline her process. She has experimented with the background, so each batch has a different background as she decides what works best for her.
My piece of advice to you is to jump in when people take your advice. I am doing a lot of editing on my client’s videos. She will get better as she relaxes more and a few months from now I will do minimal edits.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Be careful what you ask for, you might get it. I have been harassing one of my clients for more than a year to start recording some videos for her YouTube channel. She has been dragging her feet because she did not feel like she knew where to start, even though I have given her plenty of prompts during the past 18 months or so. I think she had convinced herself creating videos would be harder than it is.
Creating videos is hard work; however, there are so many ways to make it easier. My seven-year-old, Mika, is very proud to have a YouTube channel, and tells almost everyone we meet about it. A few weeks ago, I heard Mika tell a friend it was easy to have a YouTube channel. I looked at Mika and her friend and said, “It is easy because your mom does most of the work.”
Contrary to popular conception, you do not simply sit in front of a camera for a few minutes and then have a video ready to upload to your YouTube channel. A few people can run their channel that way, but the rest of us make mistakes, burp, or have smoke detectors start to ring; we need to edit our videos extensively. Editing videos can take 10 to 20 times the length of the video to complete.
Some styles of videos are easier than others to minimize edits. The volunteers reading my journal entries usually send me a video that only needs a few seconds cut off the beginning and end. My volunteers read from a page they either hold or read from their computer. We are not trying to create the illusion that the speaker has memorized the text; viewers know the words are being read, so a tiny stumble is expected. I can edit those videos in three times the video length. I watch the video once when I get it to make sure it is usable (I have only rejected one video). I watch the video while I am editing it, and then I watch the video again after I edit it to make sure my cuts flow the best they can.
When I record Mika’s videos, I frequently need to give her directions while the camera is running. I do not think the viewers want to hear me remind Mika to show the pictures ten times while she is reading a book, so I edit my voice out. I plan at least five times the run time to edit Mika’s videos depending on how cooperative she was the day we recorded videos.
Getting in front of the camera is difficult. Once again, some styles of videos are easier to record than others. Mika has four types of vides on her YouTube channel at this time. One series features her reading a children’s book, another shows her out doing kid-friendly activities, another looks in on her unwrapping or opening presents, and the fourth highlights a silly joke. Each of these videos is either scripted or reactionary, so you do not need to be “in the mood” to do these types of videos.
Videos in which you want to convey a message are not so easy, and those are the type of video my client is doing. Speaking from the heart is difficult to do on camera. You do need to get yourself mentally prepared when the words represent you. Even though I had given my client many topic suggestions to talk about on a video, none of the topics spoke to her enough to take action until now.
My client is now learning how to set up and record her videos. She is recording the ten videos this project requires, and she is recording them in batches as I suggested to streamline her process. She has experimented with the background, so each batch has a different background as she decides what works best for her.
My piece of advice to you is to jump in when people take your advice. I am doing a lot of editing on my client’s videos. She will get better as she relaxes more and a few months from now I will do minimal edits.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.