Pre-ProductionThis started at the beginning of the month. We were not focused on having current news because it was just really a screen test for the whole concept. We knew it would not be widely released, but rather used for us to know how to make the show better. So we wrote three stories and spend a few days editing them and making them more or less perfect. ProductionThe day of production the wall was not yet painted behind me and the sign was not assembled or hung. But that was not what was important. We didn't have our final lights yet. Purchased a set of box lights from amazon with the intention to return them. I am going to bring my nicer lights with me when I go home for a wedding. We wanted to get the stories down. And although it took us about three hours and tensions were high, we finished shooting. Here is a screen grab: Post-ProductionIt took a little while to get started, but I finally did a rough edit. I never added any assets, but we were able to use the rough edit to see areas of improvement, mostly in my performance. We also liked the blue color we chose, so we were prepared to paint the wall. SInce it was never technically finished, it was not rendered and is not available for viewing. But our first episode will be available in about a month and half!
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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.
The PlatformFacebook 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. Log LineA bi-weekly show covering non-partisan news stories seldom addressed by major new networks or other internet creators in a humorous light.
Location. Location. Location.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. Set DesignThe ShelfI 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. The Knick KnacksWith 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. The 'ION' SignWe 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. Wall ColorThis 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. Total Set Costs
My GoalION 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. The Old Adam JamesWhen 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.
Biola Missions ConferenceI was waiting in the lobby of Hope Hall between sessions of the 2017 Missions Conference with a few friends. Jeremy, one of my friends, and I started talking about successful YouTube entrepreneurs. We tossed around ideas of what we thought played into the 'secret sauce' of success on the platform: Regular uploads, engaging/relevant content, overall positive persona, etc. We thought, "Hey, we can do that." So we spent the rest of the time between sessions and the subsequent weeks breaking down what we thought our platform could be. We decided to use the existing channel, Adam James, that I created in Fall of 2016. We developed three different concepts for tri-weekly uploads: In Other News (Monday), Adam Does (Wednesday), Skits (Friday). 'In Other News' is a weekly news show that covers news that are weird or to insignificant for others to cover. I wanted to cover old news stories that you could share at the water cooler with co-workers. 'Adam Does' was a show in the same vein as The Try Guys, with my personal take on things. The 'Skits' were inspired by Julian Smith and Collegehumor. I would not star in all of them, but I would at least make a brief appearance in them. An EvolutionTowards the end of the 2017 Spring semester, Jeremy and I decided that the endeavour of stockpiling skits and 'Adam Does' was far too great for two people with multiple jobs. However, we could do the weekly 'In Other News' show. The effort on this was always designed to be spread out. While the other two shows were shot in advance, this would be shot the day of publication. This would prevent us from getting overloaded, all at once. Thus, this is what we moved forward with: In Other News (ION for short) on the Adam James Channel.
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About This BlogThis is where I will keep you updated with the progress of my Senior Media Project. Feel free to toss in your two cents whenever you have any ideas. I look forward to having you along with me on this journey. Visit My Channel:Month-by-Month
December 2017
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