A shorter post today on sharing your story on YouTube. Alongside this blog, I also have a YouTube channel. Why did I get started and what do I hope to achieve? Read on..
The TL:DR is, I wanted to get better on video and improve my setup, my technique and my connection with the camera (and therefore, with you – the audience watching my videos).
I also use YouTube for videos on Jetpack CRM so the more I can get content out there, the more it will improve other situations where I’m recording video (not to mention the Zooms I’m on on a daily basis).
I also wanted to use this post to make a note about the setup I’m using in the above video (and I’ll post more about this as I gradually improve my setup, and hopefully you can see the difference).
Initial setup
- Camera – I’m using my Logitech Webcam C922 which I’ve used for a while. I find the built in Macbook webcams pretty bad so I upgraded that pretty quick.
- Lighting – I just have the LED spotlights which are on the ceiling in my office (in the video screenshot below, they’re directly above my head, and then 6 more across the room’s ceiling).
- Backdrop – In the video above I’m using a green screen – but other than that – like in this video and screenshot below – it’s my natural room backdrop.
- Audio – I use the Rode Mic NT-USB which I think is decent.
- Post processing I’m just using iMovie and reducing any background noise by 100% which seems to be OK but let me know your thoughts.
Here’s some images of the camera and audio kit mentioned above
Checking my Amazon history, I purchased the Logitech Camera on the 12 March 2017 and the Rode Mic on the 18 Oct 2018 (before the Rode, I had a Blue Snowball Mic, but it randomly stopped working following my travels, so I returned it and went for the Rode upgrade).
What do I notice so far?
The first thing I’m noticing in the videos I’m doing is the lighting is quite bright on my face and the shadows aren’t very natural (giving me super white face). Also my backdrop is pretty close to me as I’m squeezed into the corner of a basement (with an old rain pipe drain behind that curtain).
Definitely room for improvement. I’ve since spun my desk around 180, and will be getting a bit of office furniture to brighten up the space (and add some additional softer lighting around the furniture for future videos – so if you’ve not subscribed to my channel yet, do so and hopefully you’ll start seeing the difference).
Camera wise, I bought (at the time) quite a decent camera for when the wife and I travelled for our honeymoon, which I’ll be trialing out for future videos too, is it similar to the Logitech – or is using a camera (if you’ve got one) worth digging out. Both the camera and the webcam were purchased around the same time in 2017.
It might even be time for me to upgrade my camera setup too as we’re now firmly in the world of 4k, but one step at a time, starting with the lighting and the framing of the shot (so I don’t have to rely on green screen).
What am I planning to share on YouTube?
While I’m aiming (at least in January) to write an article every day – the pace of my YouTube videos will be a bit slower. Last week I managed to record, edit and put out 4 videos
- The time to start is now
- Teach everything you know
- Software: Have all the good ideas gone
- The intro to my channel (embedded above).
As I’m iterating with my setup, I’ll be aiming to be consistent and put out at least one video a week. I currently find videos quite hard, what to wear? Is my hair cut? How scraggly does my beard too?
I have plenty of content to talk about on YouTube (I can hopefully do a video about each post I’ve made on this blog). So I won’t be short of things to talk about. I’ll also be sharing some “exclusives” to YouTube too – so if you like this blog and don’t want to miss out on anything I produce you know what to do.
Writing content is easier for me, I can sit here in my PJs and hoody and type away (ironically the same hoody as in my Teach Everything You Know video) but when it comes to videos I like to take a bit more time, and it’ll take a few more “takes” for me to get it right.
That’s my plan. That’s what I’m hoping to achieve through also sharing my story on YouTube. I’d love to start growing my Audience and more on that in the next post where I’ll write (and maybe one day shoot the video) on is it too late to start a newsletter.
Speaking of newsletters, I have one below, which I’d love it if you subscribed to that too!
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