As I stated in my last thinking out loud post that I wrote last week, I decided that since it is not possible to create daily, or even weekly YouTube videos, I decided to start writing my book once again. Getting back into the story line was no easy task after being away from it for nearly five years. But slowly and surly, I am immersing myself into the sci-fi world that I have begun to create.
Sample image from their website
I already had over 39,000 words written, so I had a lot of material already complete and ready to work with. Having bought and downloaded the software called writeitnow 5, I have spent the last week importing my work into the software. This software package was meant to start off with rough ideas, then create a story board, outline and then the actual written text for the book. But since I had already had so much text already complete, I had to this part of the process backwards.
Sample image from their website
After importing all of my finished text, I begun the process of filling out character data into the software, as well as major events, locations and props used in the story. Also I have been reading through the story and have been developing the storyboard and outline so one, I could have an outline for the entire book, and two, to be able to spot mistakes and contradictions in the plot and etc. I have been working on this for a solid week, with the limited free time that I have, and am still not complete. I believe that I still have another three days of work to go before I am able to complete this part of the job and begin to work on the unfinished last half of the book.
Sample image from their website
Yes this is a time consuming process and really I did not have to go through the process of creating an outline for what I already have written, but I believe that this will help me as I begin to write new text and it will help me create the best story possible. As they say, hard work pays off, well it usually does anyway.
Anyway, this is all for today's blog and I need to get back to work. I need to take advantage of any and all free time that I have. Have a great day and don't forget to follow me on blogger :)
**This is not an endorsement for Writeitnow 5 and I am not being paid to promote this authoring software. I just decided to try it myself and really like it. I hope I can help others out there looking for a solution.
As I sit here at the start of a new work week, I am just wondering if I have time for anything else. So many projects, so little time to do them. I have multiple projects that I am working on at this point in time such as the YouTube videos, blogs and I am now picking back up on a book that I started writing in 2011, I am being frustrated with the lack of time to work on them all.
Early last week I received the news that the customer orders were increasing, and at the same time the corporation offered a voluntary separation package to all employees. Many took it, I did not. I just can't see taking a buy out package without having something else lined up to go to. Sure I have my projects, but they are no career path as of now. Although, I would like for them to be.
I watch famous YouTube channels that have millions of subscribers and know that I could do it too, if only I had the time. In order to be successful in YouTube, one has to make stellar video and upload everyday. Or nearly every day. Just like Casey said in one of his videos, just keep uploading.
Well, I can't do that as of now because I am currently working six days a week, not by my choice, but I will continue to make videos as often as I can. But I do have other projects that I can work on while I am at work and on my spare time at home. As I have stated a few paragraphs ago, I had started a novel in 2011 and I got just over 39,000 words into it before I had to quit. My right hand just couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to take a break and rest my hands for a while. Well that break ended up being close to five years.
Early in 2012 I received a promotion that left me with a decision to make. I had been wanting to go back to the university for years to complete my degree, so I spent the next couple of years working on and completing that. And then I felt like it was time to get married, and did that. So by this time I had pretty much forgotten about the book and picked up the video cameras to start the YouTube dream. Due to the work load at my company, making daily or even weekly videos just is not going to be possible. Enter the blogs and books.
The further I went into the book when I was writing it, the more difficult it became to keep everything straight, as far as plot lines and the technology that I am writing into the story. Another words, it was becoming messy, no matter how much I tried to organize it. So, now that I am picking it back up, I recognized that I needed something to help me organize and make sure that the story is the very best that I could make it. So I bought a software program designed for authors called Writeitnow 5. So this is where I am right now, I am loading everything that I have into the program and organizing the characters, technology, plot lines and etc. Once this is done, I will finish the outline for the rest of the book and begin writing once again.
This is seeming to be a perfect time to complete and publish a book. In 2011, it would have been much more difficult. I can now cheaply create my own book cover and have it look pretty amazing. I now have much greater writing skills now due to the rigorous university coursework. Amazon has made it too easy to self publish an eBook and they are paying up to seventy percent profit to the authors. Great deal! If anyone that reads this post has had actual experience with loading your work on Amazon, please discuss it in the comment section below. I am really interested in reading your experience with them.
This is just me thinking out loud, planning for the future. Plan to read more about my progress on the book in upcoming Thinking Out Loud posts. This is the direction that I am going and hopefully I will be finished with book one for Christmas time this year. That is my current target date. Well, speaking of the book, I better get started. Good day everyone and please discuss, follow, subscribe, etc., you know the routine :)
Ok, so this was not an exotic vacation to a tropical island, or a weekend getaway to New York City, but it was close and free. Well free to enter, the gas to get there, the food and drinks were pricey. But we were looking for something to do for the weekend, something close to us, and this is what we found. Rain was on the forecast for this weekend, and it had been raining that day, so we was not sure if we was going to get to go out to the fair or not.
I am not sure what the traditions are in countries outside the United States, but here in the states during the summer months we have fairs. First at the county level, and then at the state. These fairs started out in the USA as an agricultural event in the nineteenth century to promote agriculture in the state. These included livestock competitions and farm product displays. But as the industrial revolution took off in the USA during the twentieth century, the fairs evolved into the modern fairs that we see today, such as carnival rides and auto racing.
The Jackson County fair is located in Brownstown, Indiana and this is north-west of where I live. The drive there was pleasant with just light rain falling in various spots along the way. The drive was about forty five minutes across a freeway and winding state roads. We arrive to the fair at around 6 pm and there were already a great many people there. The auto races was already started and the rides were in full operation. We decided that we were going to eat there so we left the house hungry with plans to eat upon arrival. Once there, we were greeted with the smells of food wafting through the air and it led us to a Lutheran church food shack where we picked up some fried fish, onion rings and some fruit.
After eating and resting, we venture on to roam around the fair. We make our first pass through the midway and this is where we spot the lemonade stand. It is a tradition of mine to enjoy one of these sweet drinks at every fair I go to. Yes it is expensive and full of sugar, but hey that is what fairs are for, to enjoy unhealthy sweet and or fried things. The drink was every bit as good as I remembered, after all it has been at least eight years since I went to one of these events, and if I ever go back, I will enjoy it once again. After roaming around the premises, shooting video and pictures, dusk begins to arrive and this is when Joy spotted the Icy booth. She had been looking for this booth the entire time and I had all but given up. Right before we leave and forgot about having a snow cone, there it was. We must have passed this booth three or four times before and was too blind to see it, but when we stopped looking for it, we saw it. We enjoy these on the walk back to the car where I shoot some time-lapse and we take some more video and pictures, and then begin to leave.
As we were leaving we noticed how colorful the lights were on the rides and we decided to stay a little longer to shoot some more video of the rides at night. After driving around the parking lot, we found a front row spot that was perfect for recording the action. I am very pleased at how this video turned out and shows what an older Canon Rebel can do. I believe that it makes a higher quality video than the camcorder, and I will be upgrading at some point to the latest and greatest DSLR, and move away from a camcorder. All in all, it was a fun weekend and was happy that we went to this fair. Thank you for reading and please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL, and please FOLLOW me on Blogger and Google+.
I'm going to tell you, this was one busy weekend. On Saturday, we spent the day baking in the hot sun in Indianapolis. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting. And if that was not punishment enough, we travel south of where I live to Louisville, Kentucky. This would be my first trip to the bridge as it was just completed a few years ago and I work too much. So on this Sunday, July 24, 2016, we make our way to Jeffersonville Indiana to walk across the bridge into Louisville.
The Big Four was originally built in 1895 to serve as a railroad bridge, and was in operation until the 1960's when it was decommissioned. At this time, the ramps were removed and the bridge was left to waste away. In the early 1990's, plans were drawn up called the Waterfront Master Plan to develop property along the Ohio river on the Louisville side into a park with the Big Four bridge tuned into a walking bridge. Phase 1 of the project was completed in 1999 with the Big Four Lawn, and was completed with the walking bridge in Phase 3 of the project. The city is currently working on Phase 4, which is expanding the park along the Ohio on the Louisville side.
So we wait until late afternoon to travel to Jeffersonville because it was so incredibly hot on that day. We left our house at around 4 pm and arrive on the Jeffersonville's side of the bridge at 5 pm. It was still way too hot to take a 2 mile round trip by foot, so we decided to rest at the park. As you can see in the video, the park has a nice setup with picnic tables being placed under a large canopy that provides lots of shade. We stayed here for about one hour where I took the time-lapse and we ventured on into Louisville.
The view from the bridge is spectacular, even though there is still much construction taking place. The development going on in this area is the most I have seen in my lifetime. I have been to other countries that have more development projects taking place, such as the building taking place in Manila, Philippines, but still the infrastructure projects currently taking place is amazing. It gives me great hope for the future of the region.
As we make our way from the Jeffersonville, IN side, we stop many times along the way to take in the scenery. The views of the new Lincoln Memorial bridge and the views of the river were breathtaking, as you can see in the video. The project designers for the bridge smartly placed park benches along the sides of the walking path so people can stop to rest and take in the views. These spots were where we shot most of our pictures and video. One could spend an entire day just sitting there, looking out.
We make it to the Louisville side of the bridge and the design of the ramp is an engineering feet. It is an elliptical spiral ramp that connects perfectly to the bridge. At first glance, one would think that it would take forever to make it from the top of the ramp to the bottom, but we quickly traverse it, stopping to take pictures along the way.
Waterfront Park is a large area along the Ohio River and one of the features of the park is a water park, and as you can see in the video, it is a large Waterpark for kids to play in. There are picnic tables placed around it, and just sitting close to the Waterpark, one can feel the coolness of the water. Since we were overheated from the walk, we decided to spend some time there to cool off and relax. After about a half-hour of rest, we move on through the park to find an unoccupied swinging chair, where we spend another half-hour or so just resting and watching the river. This is where I shoot many of the pictures featured in the video.
After spending some time in Waterfront Park, we make our way back to the Indiana side of the walking bridge. Again we stop many times along the way to take pictures and video, and also to enjoy the breeze that flows along the river. We stay on the bridge until the sun started to set on the horizon, which cast a lovely shade of orange across the Lincoln Memorial Bridge, and start walking down the ramp in Jeffersonville. We stop to take more pictures and video of the park on this side of the bride and make our way to our car right at dusk.
As we were leaving, the lights on the bridge came on and this is a beautiful display of colors. I do regret not staying there just a little longer to take some pictures of the lights, but there is always a next time. Thank you for reading and have a great day.
As I have stated in my previous blog, I did not think that we would be traveling back to Indianapolis anytime soon. So when I was told by Joy that she would like to travel there this weekend I immediately went to VisitIndy for ideas on where to travel to in the city. The canal was on our list as the number one activity to accomplish on that day and it was obvious what to visit next, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Ok, so I am just going to say it. I have viewed this monument on TV many times watching football games and such. The networks love filming this from the blimp, and for good reason. The city is beautiful, especially at night from the air with the monument as its center piece. So it was time to inspect it for myself and to see what this tower thingy that I see on TV was all about.
After the canal, we start to make our way to the monument and knowing that it was going to be a long walk, we smartly enter the JW Marriott and make our way through the sky walks. See, it was extremely hot and sunny that day, and after paddle boating for an hour we were already feeling exhausted and overheated. The idea of feeling some cool air and grabbing a cold drink was really appealing. So we enter the JW and make our way up the escalator to the second level where the restrooms were and the entry to the sky walks were, and this is where I became somewhat mad at myself. See, I had been talking into my Fujifilm Finepix camera for quite some time and I had what I felt was really good dialog and footage, which is somewhat of a rarity. It is impossible to tell what this camera is doing when using it because it has a fixed screen on the back, meaning I cannot rotate the screen around to see what the camera is seeing and doing, and there are no indicator lights on the front to tell the operator that it is recording. Hanging this camera several feet out in front of me on a selfie stick made it impossible to quickly turn the camera around to see if everything was going as intended. Well, somewhere along the line I did not press the record button correctly, so when I thought I was turning it on, I was actually turning it off and vice versa. So instead of capturing all of my dialog while I was traversing from the canal and to the sky bridge, I was capturing the times that I was just walking with the camera swinging around upside down hanging on the end of a selfie stick. I had one time, one chance to get the job done right, I failed. So sad :(
When I discovered that I did not capture any of the intended footage, and I got over my initial rage, I switched to the camcorder so I can at least see what the camera is doing due to the fact that it has an adjustable view screen. Through experience, I am discovering why the big time vloggers on YouTube are using high end DSLR cameras and GoPro's. At the time when I was buying my Canons, none of these guys were known on YouTube yet and I could not yet learn from them. Just thinking of it, my original start date on making YouTube content was 2012, maybe I could have been one of those people already. I do not really like using my camcorder because I have to hold it out so far from my face. It does have a really nice video and audio capture, but unless I have it fully extended out on the stick, my face is just comically close in the video. I cannot use the Canon Rebel T2i because of the fixed screen and I don't think that it would stay in focus as I moved around. The newer versions of this would have no problems with this kind of work, but this version is not designed for that. It is much better at taking stills and video while sitting on a tripod. But on this day, from then on, I used the camcorder and it performed flawlessly.
We made our way thru the sky bridge, convention center, more sky walks, thru the Circle Centre Mall and on out to the street. Ok Indy, this is where I am disappointing in you. I know you can do better than this. As soon as we left the mall and started walking on the sidewalk to reach our destination, we were met by the bums and beggars. The cardboard sign brigade was out in force and a few of them yelled things at us. We completely ignored them and walked quickly, and yes I was feeling a bit nervous about having all of this expensive camera gear on me at this point. It was the first time I felt uncomfortable having my gear on me and out for all to see. I'm not a completely heartless person, and for those who are truly unfortunate and downtrodden I feel for. But most of these people that we ran into are probably not homeless and if they were, they got there through the use of drugs and bad decision making. I've seen the true homeless and downtrodden, and these people were not it.
Anyway, we arrived at the monument, and it did not disappoint! Such a beautiful area and there are so many features to view on and around the monument. As you can see in the video, there are pools and fountains on two sides of it. There are also many statues depicting the various wars our soldiers and sailors have fought in. I am not going to go into detail about all of the features of the monument, you can see those in the video and if you are close by, you can inspect it for yourself as I highly recommend you do! In closing, I would have to say that this was a perfect day for exploring a city, as was the entire weekend. Thank you for reading and please SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL and follow me on blogger!
Ok, so I did not think that we would be going back to Indianapolis so soon after our first trip. But when I asked Joy where she would like to go for the weekend, her response was Indy. I was surprised by that really because the last time we were there, it rained the entire weekend. It just was not much fun for either one of us and I just assumed it would be a very long time before we returned. Personally though, I was excited by the idea of going back to Indy, just because there are so much to see and do in this beautiful city. Most of the activities we wanted to do there was outside, and this weekends weather forecast was hot, dry and sunny. Mission accepted.
Since I work second shift, 3 to 11:30 pm, it is difficult for us to get an early start on the day. It would have been best if we would have woke up at 5 am and entered the city at no later than 7 or 8 am. That way, it would not have been so hot on us. But that was not the reality. We arrived to the city at 1 pm and it was very hot at that time. I personally did not mind the heat because at least it was not raining. I will take hot and sunny over cold and rainy! We park at the Circle Center Mall parking garage and grab a bite to eat at the Asian Chao Oriental Eatery. Then we make the long walk to the canal and to the paddle boats. I am surprised by the amount of people playing Pokemon Go! Everyone, everywhere playing that game!
So I have found out that the life of a YouTuber and video making is not always an easy one, and handling all of this equipment is a rather difficult chore, especially when trying to work a paddle boat. Since I am still new at video making, I am not the most efficient at it, nor do I have the most efficient equipment for it. I have some very nice cameras and I believe the quality of the video speaks for itself. But for what we were doing on this day, my setup was just a hassle and I just could not get the best shots. Trying to hold a selfie stick with a camera at the end of it, making sure that the camera was pointed at me somewhat leveled, speaking into it clearly and coherently, and steering the boat was truly a mission impossible. I now see why most of the top YouTubers use GoPro setups along with one high quality DSLR as their main camera. The GoPro's can be strapped to the body hands free and continuously record, and they can also be mounted on whatever equipment you are using at the time. The DSLR can be used for hi def stills and videos. So instead of juggling three different cameras with one hand, I can just handle one camera with one hand and GoPro's doing the rest of the work hands free. This will be my setup in the future.
I am hoping that the video that I created did the park justice because it is really a beautiful area. The paddle boat was worth the price and we felt that the experience was fun and enjoyable. I did not think much about exploring Indianapolis until the 2012 super bowl where journalists, fans and attendees praised the city and gave it rave reviews. That was eye opening to see and hear because over at least the last 20 years, all I have heard about was how the Midwestern USA cities were in a state of decline. It is nice to have a city so close to me that has modernized and is looking forward to the future and not backward into former glory days. Adapt or die, Indy adapted. I cannot say the same thing about other cities that are close to me. Thank you for reading and please subscribe. *Product links are to my Amazon Associate website. It is created through Amazon and is perfectly safe to click on. My equipment that I currently use to make my videos.
This week we went to Bluespring Caverns, and this was our last stop on the Indiana Cave Trail. After yet another six days of working, exhausted but excited, we hit the road to Bedford Indiana. For us, this was just over an hour drive across mostly flat farmland, with corn as the view. Not a particularly fascinating road trip to say the least, but sightseeing the country side wasn't the goal on this day, floating along an underground river was. We arrive to the park just after 1 PM and there are quite a few people there, as was expected for a Sunday. We find our parking spot and set off for our tickets, hand in our Passports and receive our reward shirts. Well that was the plan anyway. Of course they were out of shirts, but they took our information and promised to mail the shirts to us. As of this blog post, we have not received the shirts. Kind of disappointing.
After receiving our tickets, we waited for thirty minutes and then we were called to the departure area to begin our tour of the cave. Walking down to the cave was somewhat of a challenge. The walkway to the entrance is steep, and if a person struggles with a disability or is out of shape, that person will be challenged to finish the walk both to and from the cave. The closer we walked to the entrance, the cooler the air became. It was a welcome relief do to the hot summer air that had moved into the Midwestern USA. The tour guide had us stop just in front of the entrance and gave us a brief history lesson on how the cave was discovered, who owned the property and the approximate age of it. After the speech, we move into the cave and make our way to the boats. The cave was well developed for tourism with it having concrete walkways and handrails for easy access to the docks.
Ok, I have been in many caves in my lifetime but this was the first underground river that I have experienced. Sure Indiana Caverns has an in the cave boat ride as well, and it was an amazing adventure, but Bluespring Caverns was completely different. The entire sixty minute cave tour is all on the boat, so there is not much walking besides the walk to and from the boat dock. This made working with the camera much easier because I did not have to worry about where I was stepping and was free to take photos and video. What a stunning journey. I had no knowledge of what we would see in the cave before we went and I did not view any YouTube videos about Bluespring before we went. No camera can truly do this place justice and it must be seen first hand to be fully appreciated, but I did the best I could with my camera to capture the awesomeness of the cavern.
After the tour and our exit out of the cave, we made our way back out to the car to grab our lunch. We ate close to the gift shop where there are picnic tables and this is where I took the time-lapse photography. When we were finished with our lunch and time-lapse, we made our way back into the gift shop to buy our bags of mining materials. We were hoping for more mineral mining like we experienced at Marengo Cave, but all they had for us was fossil and arrow head mining. It turned out to be a fun experience, especially finding the arrow heads. Shortly thereafter, we left the park and headed home. Bluespring Caverns should be on everyone's bucket list, it is that grand. Looking back on the journey, going on the Indiana cave trail was definitely worth the time and expense, and who knows, maybe we will do it again in the future :) Have a great day and please subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Blogger!
"You can take as many pictures as you want, but please no video," said the tour guide. "It is for your own safety," he said. Ok, I am rarely the one to break any kind of rules at all. As a matter of fact, I usually go out of my way to follow them. But when a person is trying to start a YouTube channel, that person needs video footage to be successful. So this is where I was with this weeks vlog. The main reason why I was there was to capture video, along with seeing something really cool and amazing.
So this weeks video started off with some frustrations, even before we arrived at the cave. As I have stated previously, my usual schedule is Monday thru Saturday. It is a rare occasion that I receive two days off for the weekend. So once again I wake up exhausted. We finally wake ourselves up and hit the road, grogginess be damned. In this video I began once again with my strategy of beginning, middle and end. With the road being the beginning and end, and the cave being the climatic middle. The road to Marengo is what I believe to be a scenic drive and I really enjoy the views. Watching the video footage afterward doesn't really do the views justice, it really is a nice drive. Yes I know, I have dirty windows and videoing through them is not a good plan, but hey, I want my viewers to see the sites.
So being told please no video was frustrating. There is no other way around the disappointing feeling when I had to put away my camcorder. Luckily for me, the FinePix shoots full 1080p, 60 frames a second video along with taking decent quality pictures. As an added benefit, it is water proof and shock resistant, so in reality, it is a good choice in this type of environment. I knew from previous experience that being able to record video in the cave that was dark was going to be a challenge, after all caves are dark, so I decided to take lots of stills with the flash. This turned out to being a great idea because most of the pictures turned out bright and clear. I only had a few that turned out poorly due to me walking or the lens building up condensation.
Taking much more pictures than video led me to the idea that I could incorporate the pictures in with the video and for me, the video turned out great. Mixing the pictures in with the beat of the music has given me a new insight into video editing and I hope that this will be enjoyable to the viewers. There is nothing I hate worse than watching shaky video where the photographer is walking and moving the camera around a lot. It gives me a headache and I'm sure it does that to just about everyone else as well. I try to avoid this in my videos as much as possible, but with the equipment that I currently have, it is impossible for me to remove the shakes completely. Having the stills incorporated into the video makes, for me at least, a nice break from dark shaky video. I am looking forward to viewer feedback from this technique and I am hoping that I will receive some useful critique which will lead to better video making. Trust me when I say this, I am all ears. Thank you for reading and please subscribe.
Cameras used:
Fujifilm FinePix XP80 This was the only camera used in the cave and walking to the cave entrance.
Canon VIXIA HF M41 Ok the link I provided was for the M40, but they are the same camera, Just mine has more memory. But it doesn't matter, they are both obsolete. This camera was used everywhere else in the park. This Canon VIXIA would be a better buy. I do not own this one, but I may in the future.
Canon Rebel T2i This camera was used for the time-lapse photography. This is an older version of the Rebel line and I would not recommend purchasing this one at this point. The newer versions of this are so much better. I recommend at least a Canon Rebel T4i. The newest version of the Rebel line being the Canon Rebel T6i. I would love to own this in the future when my budget permits it.
Ok, I am going to level with you here. I was really looking forward to this trip. Indianapolis is only about an hour drive from where I live, but that puts the city just far enough away to make it impractical for a day trip, or just to be able to roam around the city for a while and get a bite of food. There are many reasons why I was excited about going to Indy, one of them being my wife's birthday weekend, and the other being that I am new to film making. Cities just make an exciting place to shoot video because of all the architecture and just everything that is going on around every street corner. I had this image in my head that I was going to shoot a lot of amazing footage and have a big breakout moment.
So as I mentioned in my previous post that I received an unexpected day off and was able to go to Squire Boone Caverns, and that I ended up sleeping until noon. So since I slept half of the day, I was not able to experience and enjoy everything that the park had to offer, including the zip-line tour. I should have taken that as an omen that things were not going to go as I have envisioned it and nothing would go as planned. Late Friday night, July 1st, I viewed the weather forecast from my trusty smartphone and yes, 80% chance of rain......For the entire weekend. This is something that I did not expect in early June when I booked the hotel for my wife's birthday weekend.
We wake up early Saturday morning, July 2nd, pack our things and head to Indy. Our first stop was the Indianapolis Zoo. This was something we had planned to do all along on our first day because we could not check into our hotel room until 3 pm. So the plan was to spend the morning at the zoo and then check into the hotel later that evening. In this plan we were successful. The rain had not yet arrived, but it was definitely cloudy. I enjoyed the cloud cover because it made the temperature cooler and more enjoyable. As you can see in the first video, there were many people out enjoying the zoo and I captured what I believed to be amazing video.
Later on we check into the hotel and roam around the city to get a feel for where everything was and to scout out some great places to shoot video, time lapse, and so on. Indianapolis does truly offer many exciting places for these activities and on future visits I will be exploiting these locations for some great vlogs. But unfortunately on this trip I did not get to do this. Our weekend there was from July 2nd thru July 4th, with July 3rd being when most of my filming would take place. Rain, rain and more rain. Not only did we have non stop rain, but it was an extremely cold rain with hail. So early on the 4th after eating breakfast, we called it quits and went home. I shot what I could so at the very least, I could have some video to practice with. Overall, it was not the trip that I had expected and envisioned, but I do feel like I did pull out two decent videos from the weekend. I had fun playing with the footage anyway :) Have a great day and please subscribe!
Canon Vixia HF M41---I do not believe that this camera is available for purchace anymore so click here for a newer version of this. I used this camera for most of the video at the zoo and on the second day of shooting. All of the rain scenes were shot with this camera.
The downside of having a career is that one is always married to their job. Working a standard forty hours a week, over five days is just a fantasy really. In the reality, one puts in six and sometimes seven days a week for their chosen corporation or business. And that is just the way it is. We do this without much complaint because it funds our Hierarchy of Needs. I mention Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs because it explains why we willingly give so much of our lives to one corporation or business, and to me it explains very well why we rarely leave these companies. In Maslow's model, which is shaped as a pyramid, the bottom two and most basic needs are the Physiological needs (food, water, warmth, rest), and Safety needs (security, safety). These two basic needs are essential for our survival and the modern day survival tool is money. The sacrifice for our time, knowledge and labor for the exchange for these most basic needs is an easy one to make. Starve or thrive, this is our choice.
Also on the Hierarchy of Needs pyramid are the Psychological needs (Belongingness & love needs / Esteem needs) and Self-fulfillment needs. I believe that most of us never reach this last step in the pyramid and somewhere along the line we just give up trying. Self-actualization is achieving one's full potential, including creative activities is the highest and most fulfilling of all the needs. To be able to reach this level into the model has meant that one has achieved and fulfilled both their basic needs and psychological needs. To be in a position where one can have the time and the tools to create and attempt to achieve their full potential is truly rare in this world and it can take a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice to reach this last step. More than likely, it takes several generations passing on their knowledge and resources for one to be able to reach Self-actualization. This is where I am now, and this is my journey into achieving one's full potential.
Now I mentioned earlier that one usually works six to seven days a week and is married to there job. That is me in a nutshell. I am still doing this and have been doing this since age sixteen. That is the age I landed my first job and from then on, it has been six to seven days a week of both schooling and working, for twenty three years and counting. So to achieve creative activities are mostly done on one, sometimes two days a week, at least for the video creations. I would love in the future to be able to pour all of my time and efforts into these creative activities.
On this particular week I received some good/bad news, it depends on one's point of view. For me it was good news because it meant that I would have the opportunity to have one more day to create than expected. So upon receiving the news that we would have a business shutdown on Friday July first, I made plans to go to Squire Boone Caverns & Village. To be completely honest, I was really excited for this trip because they offer a zip-line tour. I was having visions of zipping through the air, camera capturing my excitement the entire way. Well that didn't go as planned, I was so exhausted from working those six days a week that I ended up sleeping until noon! by the time I ate my breakfast, prepared for the trip and traveled there, it was just too late for the zip-line tour.
In this video I continue on with beginning, middle and end in the same fashion as Vlog 3. Traveling to the event, the event, and traveling from the event. The first part of the video and all the way up to the cave tour was shot with the Canon Vixia HF M41 ( here is a newer model), and also the last part of the video leaving the park was shot with the Vixia. The cave portion of the video was shot with the Finepix xp80. I believe that this was the correct camera to use in this cave simply because of all the water. This particular camera is waterproof and I was having water splash all over it. Unfortunately, some of the water got on the lens and ruined many images. Another lesson learned in film making and shooting in challenging environments. Overall though, I believe that the camera performed well under the circumstances. The video editing software that I used was Corel Videostudio Ultimate X9. ( here is an older version of this software). I am still learning the software, which I believe to be a very user friendly and powerful program. It has many features built in including forward and reverse, and variable speed. In this video, I play around with some of these features. I was so focused on the fact that I could at this point, I didn't stop to consider if I should. In retrospect, I wish that I did not play around with the water wheel. It gives the impression that the bearings are going out or something. Anyway, thanks for reading this and don't forget to subscribe :)
Story line, this means everything in the world of entertainment. A movie can have great special effects, great actors and great scenes, but without a great story, the film will flop. Everything else comes secondary to story. What is a story and how do you write a great one? A story line, or plot, can be written into three parts according to Aristotle, a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is where the plot is set up and where the journey begins, the middle where most of the action happens including the climax of the plot, and the end where everything is resolved. An example of this being successfully implemented was in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In this trilogy, there is a clear beginning where Frodo is a happy goal lucky hobbit, but then inherits the ring of power. This action kicks off the middle of the story where Gandalf sets him on his journey to destroy the ring, and an end where the ring has been destroyed and Frodo moves on.
All successful films, TV shows, books and so on have these three parts to the story, the beginning, middle and end. So how does this relate to YouTube content creation and this video? I do not personally see a difference between the formats, it is still all about the story. So in Vlog 3, Indiana caverns, I make my first attempt at beginning, middle and end. The beginning of the video I describe where we are going and film the journey there. The middle where we tour the caverns and the end where we journey home. Since this is the beginning of a four part series, I am also telling a greater story in which we are on the Indiana cave trail. This is our first stop in this greater adventure where we pick up the Indiana Cave Trail Passport, have it stamped in each location, and receive our prize in the end.
The cameras used in this video was the Fujifilm FinePix XP80 and the Canon Rebel. The FinePix was used for everything except for the cave. I thought at the time that the Canon Rebel would have done a better job in the cave, and I would have been right if I knew my camera better. See, I did not go to film school, and I didn't take photography classes or anything of the sort. So all of this is new to me. My major mistake was auto focus. When shooting in a low light environment, flip the switch on the lens to manual focus and turn the dial on the camera to full auto. It makes for some stunning shots. Don't worry, I figure this out by the fourth part :) Thank you for reading and please don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and to this blog.
I have been thinking of producing YouTube videos for years and on June 19, 2016, I finally made my first real video. Originally I had planned to start creating YouTube content in 2012, so from 2011 to 2012 I bought all the equipment that I needed. I bought a Canon Rebel T2i here is the newest version of that, a Canon Vixia HF M41 and here is a newer version of that. But things did not exactly go as planned, in a good way :)
Early in 2012, I received what was to me a life changing promotion with the corporation that I work for. I moved up from quality assurance, a job I performed for ten years, to team leader. This came with a large increase in pay and I immediately knew what to do with this, I went back to school. So for the next two years I was hard at work both working six days a week for the company and going to the University full time. Since I already had earned an associates degree thirteen years earlier, I only needed two years to complete my Bachelor's of Science degree in Business Administration. After I graduated October 2014, I decided to find my lifetime partner and I began my search for her. This search brought me to the Philippines where I met Joy, and on May 17, 2016, we married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. After settling into our new lives, the doors of opportunity opened wide to begin my YouTube dream.
Now I did miss a golden opportunity to begin filming in the beautiful country of the Philippines, but at that time I was not thinking of making videos, I was thinking of life and marriage. But the idea of showing Joy around my state of Indiana, her new home, led us to Spring Mill State Park and to our first video. We arrived at the park early, around 9:30 am, well for us it was early. On a normal day, we sleep until 10 am because of my shift at work. This was a very hot early summer day and it was already becoming uncomfortable at the time we arrived. Our first goal was to relax at a picnic table and enjoy our lunch. This is where I started filming. Of course none of that made it in the video, but it was our way of getting used to being in front of a camera. After lunch we walked to the pioneer village, which wasn't too far from where we parked the car and had our meal, and began to shoot video. To say I was uncomfortable in front of the camera and with the camera would be an understatement. I am not camera shy exactly, but I would say a more precise description of what I was feeling was camera awkward. Not only did it feel funny to put a camera on a selfie stick and point it at myself, but it also felt almost embarrassing when I noticed everyone staring at us doing this as we/them walked by or crossed paths. But one must begin somewhere, and this was our somewhere.
After leaving pioneer village, we drove the car to the Inn and parked there. From the Inn, we hiked to Donaldson cave. I filmed most of the hike there, and most of our visit to the cave and its cool waters. The problem is, I forgot to talk into the camera, which makes for a terrible vlog! Another problem was, there were just too many people there to shoot a really great video. That is the downside of going to a state park on a Sunday, but when I only get one day off a week from work......
So when I edited the footage, I just made a music video out of it to document that yes we went there, and to show others how beautiful the area is. The video is just over two minutes, but trust me when I say this, it was a long sweaty walk. Hiking down to the cave wasn't much of an issue, it was going back up. Anyway, thank you for viewing the videos and for reading this :)
