Friday, 28 June 2013

Update on the vlogging

OK a quick update on the progress of my vlogs. I have shot my first vlog post, I am not completely happy with it - there are sound problems, one part is somewhat out of focused (I have no idea why) and I am not happy with some of the delivery (I was too corporate and not 'fun' enough). Bloody hell, if you think that was hard work - wait till you hear about the editing: it's so difficult and it takes so long! I have done most of the editing and just need to polish up the graphics and captions. I just need more time as I'm learning as I go along.

Here's the most irritating thing about vlogging: I had another thought this morning about the issue I vlogged about (the differences between British & Singaporean politics) and if it was a normal blog post, I could just easily log on and edit the original post even if it has been published. But even if I shot an extra scene, it's like, damn I have to insert that scene, would it fit in, would it affect the pacing of the piece and I would have to do the music for it etc - it's just too difficult. So once you've shot your vlog, it's like that's it, it's very hard to change the content per se unless you have a LOT of time on your hands, which I don't.
I do watch some vlogs on youtube like EatYourKimchi, KWOW with Professor Oh and Munah Hirzi Official and they're of such high quality - I'm trying very hard to get mine to a decent standard but it's obvious that these vloggers do invest a lot of time and energy into their vlogs. They also clearly have a lot of technical knowledge when it comes to the editing process which I am fairly new at - my previous vlog posts have been edited by a mate of mine Pete, but this time I am doing all the editing myself as Pete's in a bit of a mess right now (let's not go into that - it's a very long story).

I am learning a lot of lessons along the way and instead of saying, okay I'll go back and redo episode 1 - I'm like, you know what? Some of the technical aspects suck, there clearly are problems but bear with me, the next episodes are going to improve as I learn from my mistakes and I am going to upload episode 1 soon and then move on, focus on making episode 2 much better technically and more concise, punchy and entertaining. Some of EatYourKimchi's earlier videos weren't that great either, but they've come such a long way as vloggers and I know I will improve with time - vlogging is a lot harder than it looks but hey, give me a chance and I will become a great vlogger too. Here's the kind of professional vlogging standard that viewers are used to on Youtube.
Just to reassure you, I will still be blogging as well - as it's so much easier and faster to get a blog post out compared to a vlog... EatYourKimchi has a very good format - they address an issue in about 5-10 minutes in a vlog and then they will have a longer blog post to go with that vlog for those who want to find out more about the issue discussed and I will follow that format too. Why reinvent the wheel, eh? So bear with me, I am spending every spare moment editing ...


2 comments:

  1. congratulations on the 4 million views limpeh, and all the best to your vlogging adventures! :) you might want to invest in a better camera (like a basic dslr or milc) with a decent microphone! with a dslr/milc/better camera, you can be more in control of the focusing (eg set it to the center; auto/manual). hopefully pete or your other readers can put you in touch with others experienced in video-editing, or you could even directly contact productions like munahhirzi / night owl cinematics or even alvivi?
    anyway, can't wait to see your vlogs! :) there is a somewhat sizeable learning curve and you are a one-man operation, but you're really driven/stubborn so have heart you will prevail :)

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    1. Hi Bonni, yeah I am looking for microphones at the moment and will try to get one tomorrow - the mike on an iPhone just isn't picking up the sound well enough and I can tweak the levels in post-production but it's not great.

      I actually know both Hirzi and Alvin and will be seeing them both when I am in S'pore and KL in July.

      The difficult part isn't so much performing to camera (not saying that it is easy...) but editing is such bloody hard work!!

      Thanks - look out for it soon. Episode 1 isn't great - but learning my lessons and not gonna fuss over the technical problems with episode 1 and will focus on making episode 2 a lot better.

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