How I Vlog
If you know me, you most likely haven’t pinned me as a Youtuber. And you’d be right, I am not. I produce videos for work to help my communication. That’s why if we don’t work together, you’ll probably never see my production. If you’re curious, feel free to ask, I’ll share some stuff. I am not the Steven Spielberg of the corporate scene and don’t aspire to be. It’s just that video as a media is too powerful in the world we live in. It is also suited to my style. E.g. It allows me to pass my enthusiasm onto the organisation in a manner that’s efficient and scalable.
In less than a year, it has become integral part of my manager arsenal with a cadence of 1 video every 10 days or so.
The Process #
I scope the topic with a set of bullet points gathered from my many notes. I then work out the story-telling via a script that will be in front of me while I record.
Next I record and I do max 2 takes for each segment. That’s my policy. My main idea is to hit the 20% effort for 80% of the effect for my communication.
At editing time, I will maximise the opportunity for visual content to support my clarity of speech while also creating an engaging viewing experience.
I have one person each time to first review the result before I publish.
Capturing #
Hardware #
On The Go #
- Samsung Galaxy S20+
- cheap tripod
- Litra Glow by Logitech
- Seenheiser lapel mic through USB-C
At My Desk #
- One more cheap light on a stand
- Samson G-Track Pro microphone
- Logitech C930e webcam (in complement to the S20+)
Software #
- OBS
- I confess to resorting to Zoom at times…
Editing — Software #
- kdenlive
- glaxnimate
- sox and audacity
- Blender
- sound effects & music: nothing yet
Some Comments #
It’s all open source or even free software. And frankly, it’s a brilliant toolchain.
I am looking for a good creator content library (e.g. envato elements). Everywhere I look, it’s expensive and doesn’t have what I am looking for. There could be a good opportunity for an OSS project to collect all the sounds that have fallen into the public space, e.g. old video games. Think of the Gutenberg Project for media content.
My S20+ is showing some limits these days. It’s running out of space. More annoyingly, it has a flaky USB-C port. When I plug the microphone (or any other peripheral), it will randomly enter an infinite loop where the port connect - disconnect the plugged-in device. It has disastrous effects on the audio track.
I am more and more tempted by a Dji Osmo Pocket 3 to go next level with my kit.
Firefox has a long-standing bug that affects using USB microphone with it. Therefore I can’t use my Samson G-Track on a Google Meet call using Firefox for instance.