I have started a new video podcasts with my friends:
Mark: http://www.crazymark.com/
William: http://www.allaboutwilliam.com/
In this Podcast we speak about many of the things that we come across as media creators. This includes: freelancing, taxes, amateurs, networking, interviewing people, charities, and many other things.
Ep1
Ep2
Ep3
One of my favorite conventions to go to every-year.
I know that a lot of people think selfie-sticks are silly. I find them to be a very helpful tool when vlogging or just trying to take any picture without an extra person. With a bluetooth selfie stick such as this selfezy (can buy here Amazon link) it does make life easyer for Youtubers like myself.
The selfezy is a product I purchased at a discount in order to review. The bluetooth features really sell this for me. It works as described for pictures but you can use the picture button to record video as well. You just have to have your cell phone set to video before you hit the take picture button.
The handle does look cheap. I can’t complain about it too much though since last time I seen it in stock on Amazon it was selling for under $20. Inside the handle is the usb port to charge it. I am not sure if I prefer that or just using a battery. Then again every other electronic we have charges via usb so why not our selfie sticks? Word of advice for power: remember to always turn it off.
Below is how I test a selfie stick for weight. This being the most important test. If a selfie stick does not hold your phone/camera still, it is worthless. With this said this is my second Selfezy. My first one broke in the first week and the company replaced it. I was able to repair the first one and now I have 2 of these selfie sticks with no issues.
While at FantastiCon I had the opportunity to interview a few people. The obvious are the featured guests (in this case the “Comic Book Men”). I also thought about talking to an independent artist who’s daughter is also an artist (didn’t get her age but she was younger than 10). She makes her own art and sketch cards and sells them at conventions. Her father does watch the transactions, but for the most part she runs her own booth.
I used to do interviews at events. I stopped doing this because the videos were not getting many views or interaction. People are more interested in the “b-roll” style videos focusing on cosplay and other footage vs interviews with people and any commentary I have about the events.
I was also doing vlogs about events as well. Again I do not feel they were getting many views. I also feel that the vlogs can come repetitive. If I don’t have anything special to the event to say/do at events I tend to repeating the same things. If I had a second shooter and I did more talking points during the events, that would improve the vlogs. However when I am at an event the cosplay/highlights video does have priority and I do spend most of the time focused on getting footage for that. I am hoping these blogs do not become receptive for the same reasons.
Comments are welcomed, and of course feel free to browse my previous videos to see examples.
Scott (Toaden) Maiale
I do not like to do “dated” videos. What I mean by this is I don’t want to do a video that is really only asking for views around a particular time. This could be a gossip topic that everyone will forget about in a year, or a holiday video that is only relevant a few weeks a year.
Keeping this in mind, I also want to do as many “collab” videos as possible. A collab video is a video that you work with other people on. In this case I was asked to be part of a playlist that shows about 20 YouTube channels all doing similar videos. Doing a Halloween DIY/tutorial video does sound “dated” but it is up to the creator to find their own angle.
To find my own angle (and in a limited time) I look at my own material. I do a lot of zombie events but it was not practical for me to time out during an event to a tutorial. This would also make me have to figure out a topic that people are actively searching for. The other large topic that my channel has is AUDIO. I like making audio equipment tests. This now gives me an excuse to play with low budget equipment for a larger audience (since the video will be promoted by others in the collab/playlist).
I decided to buy some cheap ($20) JETech bluetooth receivers/transmitters. This is something I have been wanting to do anyways . . . I was waiting to get a deal on them (maybe a brand deal) but $40 for equipment, I can consider this “toy” money.
Now all I had to do was figure out a way to use these “toys” in a Halloween theme, but also not “dated”. “ever-green” videos are videos that are not considered “dated”. If you watch the video below I believe i figured out how this video could be considered fine for Halloween viewing but also “every-green” in nature.
Here is the play-list of all the videos in the collab. Please check them out.
Scotty (Toaden)
October is the month that every-weekend there is at least one event I must go too. There are so many conventions and zombie walks and just amazing events. This year I changed things up and I went to some different events than I did last year. Last weekend I went to Monroe Comic-Con. As you can tell by the video below it was small but full of people in full “comic-com” spirit and was a well worth-while convention.