Wednesday, May 6, 2020

What I use for my youtube channel

A friend of mine asked what I used and what I though he might buy to get started on youtube.  He wants to start a cooking channels.  I am a super amateur but here are my thoughts.

Cameras

I have 3 cameras, first I got a GoPro Hero3 I didn't really know what I was doing.  Then I got a Yi 4K and then a Yi 4K+  My Yi products are way cheaper and I think they work well.  However, they are all action cameras.  Action cameras have a very wide angle lens and while the quality is good for video of yourself in a relatively small space you have to have the camera literally right in front of you.   I used to have the camera further back but then you have to zoom and that's extra work and you loose resolution. Unless you need waterproofing and plan on doing high action get something else.  I think most youtubers use mirrorless or SLR cameras.  If you go this route I would make sure it's 4K and 30fps (frames per second) or more.  That will give you good quality and a smooth picture.  It's also nice to have a lcd screen you can flip so you can film yourself and see what's in the picture at the same time.  Shit I might be talking myslef into one.  I could see you eventually wanting two cameras.  Maybe one action cam close to the food and one mirrorless shooting you talking and the grill.  Yi has a mirrorless, it gets mixed reviews but I think I am going to try it since it's cheap.  Oh when it comes to mirror less and slr certain ones take certain lens so research that before you pull the trigger.  I think all SLR are standard and some mirror less are SLRs if that makes sense.

Yi 4k+ action cam

Yi mirrorless cam

Canon mirrorless

Lighting
Lighting makes a big diff, before I had it my picture sucked, then I used various lights.  Now I use these even outside and they make a big diff.  Keeps shadows from making shit look bad.  The color selection helps you match the ambient light.  by the way the prices change on all this stuff I got these lights for $100 like 3 months ago now there 160.  If your patient you can wait for price cuts.
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Sound
I have a zoom mic and got it cuz my kids music teacher had one and the sound is awesome without a mic.  There are probably setups with mic and recorder together that are fine.  I also use a lapel mic with the zoom.  Sometimes I just use the cameras mic but it's not nearly as good.  By the way syncing separate audio and video in the software I use is doable but can be tricky.  I bet its easy in apple's software final cut pro

Zoom H1

Lapel mic I use

Software - I again I went cheap here and it has worked out.  I initially used gopro software and it was terrible.  Now I use cyber link power director. It's a knock off of the expensive stuff.  They have like 50% deals all the time and will try and sell you upgrades constantly.

Computer
I bought a dedicated desktop a couple years back for $300 and it did great when I only did 1080 now that I do 4K it gets a little rough sometimes.  I would get something with at least 16G of ram and an SSD harddrive and then get a big external USB drive.  Keep old porjects and back log on the external and whatever you are working on on the internal SSD.

YouTube
We can talk more about youtube once you get going.  Create a channel with the name you want and make it unique.  I think you can change the name once or twice and eventually pick a url.  Consider whether you cus or not.  Profanity will reduce your advertisers.  Don't use copy written music.  They will catch you then you can't monetize that video and you might get a strike.  3 strikes and your out.  Oh one important initial thing.  Youtube rewards consistency so try to come up with a schedule and stick to it, like every friday at 1200 I post something, usually.

Monetization - you will need 4000 hours in the previous 12 months and 1000 subscribers.  it will take sometime but once your there you want to be ready.  Keep an eye out and once you get close get a business bank account establish and LLC.  This isn't absolutely necessary but it's nice to have all my income and expenses from this separate.  

Music - Youtube has music it provide and some artists post on channels that offer free to use music if you put credit in the description.  This is the channel I use for music. I have had some music become copy written later but it's rare and think shit bags that do that get black balled.  You may not intend to use much music but it's still nice for intro's timelapses and shit like that if nothing else.

Social media
Try to make an instagram, facebook, etc then post alerts on all when your videos post.  You can share on your personal feeds too.  I would also post on all your favorite forums, like cooking forums, specific grill froums etc.  You will likely drive a lot of your intial subs from those.

General Thoughts

I am completely self taught.  There are multiple unique jobs that you learn over time.  Actor, Cameraman, Soundman, light guy, producer, editor, writer, etc.  It takes time to learn what works.  It takes practice to get decent at all of them. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they are terrible.  Sometimes I use scripts and storyboards and sometimes I wing it. Editing and producing in the software and be really challenging and time consuming but I have learned to really love that part too.  If I were you I would just start posting things and you will get better as you go.  Keep videos as short as possible cut anything that is unnecessary  and if you worked on something and think it sucks post it anyway.  When your huge your subs will love watching your old rough shit.  

Ok I am sure I missed tons but there's an initial brain dump.  Ask me any and all questions I would be happy to answer and can't wait to do a Land Cruiser grilling out collab!  

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