Being an eco advocate has many challenges, but I didn’t expect the biggest one to be technology!
“YouTube is perfect for you”.
So many people told me this, but it took a while to take it on board. Instagram, Facebook, blogging, speaking – they took up more than enough time without something new.
But then I realised – this really is perfect. The ideal way to share all the different things we did in our retrofit plus all the stuff I’ve learned along the way. So EcoRenovationHome morphed again into a new form
So off I went
It was back to square one again. Learning how to use the site, sorting out the tech, deciding what to speak about…….
I began with my trusty iphone and just a few bullet points to guide me. It took me HOURS! I would do each section over and over again in the hope of getting it exactly right.
I soon realised I needed help so signed up for an online course over five days which gave me some good pointers and an introduction to Capcut editing suite. I felt like a little bit more of a YouTuber now.
I was pootling along with just 123 subscribers, doing what I thought would be of interest. It was taking me about 1.5 days to do a video – script, film, edit, upload – which is a long time for such a small number of people.
I had to ask myself if it was worth it
I realised I needed to either get out or get on with it. So I found Anthony on Fiverr. Based in Florida he works with budding YT people to help them get more traction. It was worth a try.
(BTW if you need something and you’ve never used Fiverr, its definitely worth a look. I’ve used it a few times and been very happy.)
The feedback from Anthony’s audit was extremely encouraging. Apparently, when people found me and looked at the videos they stayed for much longer than is usual. On the other hand, my thumbnails were rubbish and my SEO (search engine optimisation) useless, but he could easily help with that.
Middle of the night realisations
Waking at 3 am one night, I had the realisation – I can’t carry on taking one and half days to do a video – there just isn’t time in the week.
So the next weekend I sat down with my son-in-law, also Anthony, to talk about what I needed. Trained in lighting and sound, now working as a videographer, he could see there was a lot more needed if I was going to take this seriously. A simple teleprompter was top of the list, followed by:
- Vlogging camera
- Tripod
- TelePrompter
- Ipad (for the teleprompter)
- Lights & soft boxes
- Microphone to go with the camera
- Separate screen for positioning
Will the Barn be ready soon?
Then the big question: where to put it all and where to film? Using the kitchen as a backdrop was ok, but that required me to rely on daylight – a tough ask in winter!
Soon my mind turned to the Barn – the new eco building we were finishing in the garden. There was plenty of room to set up, space for lights and soft boxes, good acoustics…… The energy efficient build made it a perfect studio.
The Barn was ready at last
Last weekend saw the making of the first Barn YouTube video – how to attach internal wall insulation. So much easier to work – I wasn’t in anyones way, no one would walk in and interrupt, it didn’t matter if a storm came in and turned the sky black.
Of course – the is me! It was never going to go totally smoothly – I’m just not that good yet. So I crashed my computer and lost my photo library (don’t worry. All up on the cloud so I’ve still got them)
I long for the day when I make a video without a tech emergency. I think the Anthony’s do too! But it will come. Then it’ll be on to the next challenge.
Let me know if you’ve done anything like this – I’d love to hear and learn from you