How I make videos.

I made the decision that I would release at least one video a week this year. Thus far, I have kept to that. This takes up a lot of time. This also takes a lot of work, both in making the videos, and coming up with ideas for the video.

First there is finding inspiration. As I mostly make game reviews lately, it has been as easy has finding a game I have a strong opinion on. Other time it might be an idea that has been cooking in my mind for a long time, or a particularly frustrating situation. I sometime write notes in my phone when I have inspiration strike, as it might be hours till I am home and can do anything else with the idea. 

Next is the prep for making a video. In the case of a game review it is fairly straight forward, capture game footage and look up a few facts about the game such as current price and available platforms. When doing other videos it is harder, as I have no video camera. So that means taking, or finding still images to use for a montage. This is why I have largely moved into making where game footage can be used. 

The next bit of work is "script". I put that in quotes, because I don't write out a full script of everything I will say. I write a page of two of notes, and then use them as jumping off points. That works better for me than scripting every word. Now depending on the topic, I might need more notes than others.  

Then comes recording the audio. I use Audacity, because it is free. I use a generic mic from Walmart because at 20$ it was the cheapest one I could find. It would be nice to upgrade the mic, but that cost money I don't have. Generally, I record in one long take, and then edit  it down. So in the raw audio there are flubs, and other noises, sometime ever alternate version of lines. 

Finally I use Vegas Pro 14 to actually make the videos. It is not the newest version of Vegas Pro, but it serves my needs, and I got it pretty cheap from Humble Bundle. It is has a lot of features, and I don't know how to use all of them, but I am working on that. 

Once the video is made, I upload it and schedule it to release Saturday at 6am.