I’ve been running Spaghetti Traveller since the tail end of 2012, while I have watched many ideas and thoughts evolve, both in the travel industry and in the blogging industry as a whole. While I have been writing at least one blog post a week throughout the entire time, my lust for acting has made me debate whether it is time to setup my own YouTube channel.
So finally, I have decided to take that step and have spent the last couple of days learning what equipment to use, what I will need and creating scripts. I have outlined below all considerations and conclusions, just incase anyone is going through the same thought-track and would find it useful.
Equipment
I have bought a Green screen, which will hopefully be introduced very soon to my videos. I asked a number of well renowned YouTubers and they all said the most important thing is lighting. I have therefore bought myself some decent lighting, however it isn’t quick to set-up, so based on some further advice, I have used natural lighting through the window as a backup option.
Eventually I want to buy a digital camera for the recording. I had one through a previous company, worth £500, which was recommended to us by industry experts, however as I left the company, there went my accessibility to the equipment. As a quick job, I have bought a webcam, however one of the biggest issues I have noticed is the sound quality, so a microphone might be my next purchase.
Video Editing
I have begun with a couple of video editing tools. Firstly, I have got Adobe Premier Pro, which is what I used to make the video intro. However for the overall running of the video, I have been using Windows Movie Maker, which is completely free. I hope to just use Adobe Premier Pro in the future, but there will definitely be a learning curve!
Video Intro
I hit quickly on this topic, so I thought I would re-visit it as a completely separate section. My intro is very basic as I’m still only learning, but I think its important to have something better than simply a black screen with some writing or no intro at all, as it appears much more professional.
You can make the intro’s using Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe After Effects. There are also many other tools and platforms, which all have video tutorials which you can follow.
Content Calendar
One of the biggest things I have learnt while working in digital marketing is that I get a little too excited and jump into plans without building a solid foundation, something I have learnt over time. You might have a great idea for a video, but first work out a complete content calendar.
You will want to know what each video will be about, when you plan on creating the video, the editing and when it should be going live. How often are you going to be posting videos, realistically?
If you get some free time, you might want to make a few in bulk, providing you are fully prepared for this beforehand.
You will also want to write a script up for each video, while some of it can be improvised, it is very obvious when they are completely mumbled, as it just looks amateur.