An Unexpected Update + Photo Prompt & Poem!

So a few weeks ago I made a post about my New Year’s resolutions, one of which was to start a YouTube channel. I got started with it, then made a post complaining about how hard it was to use editing software. Then I complained again about doing voiceovers, because of my sore teeth.

Finally though, after all that fussing and complaining, I’ve actually managed to make my first video!

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It’s a very simple kind of layout, (I didn’t want to attempt anything majorly fancy, since I’m just starting out) but I’m fairly happy with it for a first attempt, and I’m excited to do more of them. I basically just put a little intro together, then let the conversation play out between me and the scammer, one message at a time. I didn’t think people would want to listen to me bang on for 5 minutes about how I discovered scambaiting, or any boring details!

Because it’s basically just a slideshow type of video, I thought it would be really easy. But then I had to really think about how I was going to make that slideshow. And then it became a bit harder. I had to learn how to use this photo editing thing called Gimp to make the slides, and I was worried it was going to be as hard as the Adobe Premier, but thankfully it was much more simple.

In that way, it was actually easier to make the video than I expected, but the difficulty came from compiling every individual message into one slide each. I think eventually I ended up with around 155 slides. They were straightforward enough to make, but having to name, save and export all of them in the right order became very tedious, very quickly. I nearly fell asleep by the time I got to slide no. 30!

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Overall though, that part wasn’t too bad, but I hit a wall when I got to the voiceover. I made a lot of excuses, and did a lot of procrastinating, because I was incredibly unhappy about listening to the sound of my own voice!

I still don’t really like listening to it, but one night I just sat down and forced myself through it. I took a Lemsip first to hopefully make me less nasal, but I’m not sure it worked!

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So with the embarrassing voiceover done, I was nearly finished, and I just had to line each slide up with my voice in Premiere, then add in a few bits and bobs, like a few pictures to hopefully make it more interesting, and some censor beep sound effects for when the scammer swore at me.

That was definitely the fun bit, and I actually enjoyed using the Adobe Premiere once I got used to it. Editing a video (even a really basic one) isn’t something I ever saw myself doing, or ever thought about, but I found that I really had a good time doing it.

After that step, it was finished! I couldn’t believe I had really finished a video at all. I kind of thought I would end up fussing around with the voiceover for weeks before actually doing it. So it was a pleasant surprise that I was able to get my act together a bit!

I made a thumbnail in Gimp, then uploaded it. I had no idea there were so many steps and details you have to input when you put a video on YouTube, but they were mostly straightforward, which was good.

So that’s my first video! I’m very proud to have made a start at least, even if nobody has really seen it yet. I’m just happy that I followed through with something instead of giving up halfway, which I considered. It gives me a bit of confidence that I’ll be able to do the same with my book, although that’s definitely a longer process than this. (At least I don’t have to do a voiceover for a book!)

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Finally, I don’t want to beg people for likes and shares all the time, because I feel really bad about it. (I feel annoying enough just by writing posts!) But just this once, I’ll say that since it’s my first video, it would make my day if anyone wants to give it a view! Only if you want to, if it’s not your thing, don’t worry about it!

In future, when I post new videos, (which I think will be every Friday, at the same time as my blog posts) I’ll put the link at the end of the post that I do that day, but I won’t always pester people to watch them! I’ll just put the link there in case anyone is interested!

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So thank you very much for reading, I know this is very different to what I usually post about, but next week I have some more writing-themed news to share. I wanted to let it develop a bit more before doing a whole post, because it’s something I’m really excited about!

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Photo Prompt!

So for this week’s photo, I chose a picture I found of my horse I used to have. Not only was he a very gorgeous beast, but I also used horse pictures to annoy the scammers recently, and it made my think about my time with Stephen the horse!

He looks very blissful, with his eyes closed, like he’s really loving that grass and sunshine.

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Poem!

Busying myself with projects,

It seems to have been going well.

Today marks my first ever video,

Could it be the first of many?

Or maybe it’ll never be seen,

It can’t be predicted in that way.

Nevertheless I am proud of it,

So that’s the most important thing!

Thanks for reading!