Today we took some pictures of set, there were no lights set up, but we wanted to work on framing and see exactly what we wanted. The sign that we chose is also in my hands. You can see the color we choose for the wall on the blue chip (top color). We settled on a frame more close up. The new framing just covers my chest, excluding the lower shelves with the 'O' & 'N'. Also we went with a lower chair. I am currently sitting on a stool from Target, but we went with a folding chair already at the house. This way we saved money and got the framing we wanted. 

Facebook was considered, and we may still pivot there; however, with the introduction of mid-roll ads, we want to make sure that viewing our show is a pleasurable experience. If we cannot select where ads play, then we don’t want to be  part of it. We will however show short snippets of the show of FB in the future.

Twitch was also considered, but as much of the viewership will be gained from related content and suggested videos on YouTube, switching to a platform much less focused on our genre seems misguided. If we were a bigger channel and able to drive audiences over to Twitch, we probably would. But since we are tiny creators, we will stick with the big guy, YouTube.

​A bi-weekly show covering non-partisan news stories seldom addressed by major new networks or other internet creators in a humorous light.

We needed a location that we could leave set pieces in and that would be available to us every Tuesday and Thursday from 7am-10:30am. With these restrictions, we settled on my co-creator's garage. It's free and empty by the time we start shooting at 8am. We do have some issues getting high quality audio, but as of right now, it is sufficient for our needs. 

I purchased a shelving unit last semester for my YouTube set as I thought it would easier to shoot every episode with an established set. I didn't shoot when I got the shelf, but I knew since I had it already, it would be a great addition to the ION Set. The trick was getting it to our location. To do this it had to be disassembled, this required us to tear apart the backing already in place. Therefore we had to replace it. In the long run though I think is is for the better.

With our main set piece complete, we could now fill the shelf with knick knacks. I went to a myriad of stories to find just the right pieces to sit behind me. While they might change over time, these were all things that fit the show. The changes from the following photos are that the "@" sign was removed becasue it didn't have any significance other than being related to internet. And a photo the happened to be in a frame that I picked up at Goodwill was added under the elephant. You can see these changes in later photos.

We wanted to add a sign on the opposing wall from shelf, so I picked up three different woods and two different letter sets from Hobby Lobby and laid out all of our options. After showing the following image to various friends and family members, we settled on sign 'F'. The chart on the right is a breakdown of the cost of each sign. 

This was a major factor that took us quite a while to decide on. I prefer darker colors, but since the shelf was already black, we needed to steer clear of those. We then were thinking of a white with notes of blue. But after a little while, we settled on a brighter, more vibrant blue. On the left you can see a photo from our framing test (more on this later). The blue we selected is the top color on the blue card. 

ION is a bi-weekly (Tuesday & Thursday) show that covers odd local/national news on the international platform  of YouTube. The Tuesday will cover news from Thursday-Sunday, while the Thursday show will cover from Monday-Wednesday. The idea is that these stories aren't being covered by many others, so the rush to report is decreased as we are not competing as much with others.

​The show is targeted to be about 6-8 minutes, cover 3-5 news stories, depending on length and detail of each story. I will be delivering each story with the assistance of pictures and quote captions. 

The hope is to deliver the stories as if I am your friend just telling you a cool, off-the-wall story. I want it to feel like I just a regular guy starting a youtube channel. People like grass-route YouTubers. So I want high production value, but I don't want it to look like I have a sponsor right out of the gate.  

When I first created the Adam James channel, I just wanted to post videos that I wanted to make. However, that doesn't really fit my new brand. So I will be hiding all of the existing videos on my channel. I will be adopting my introduction of "Thanks for clicking on my face! I'm Adam James..." That is how I am letting the original channel live on, on my current channel.