Tag: Video

Getting Rich on 2.4 cents per day

After reading yet another “wow look at me I’m a digital nomad living on a beach comfortably” article I decided to have a bit of a go at seeing just how much money could be made “passively” – after all the idea is to be sitting on the beach sipping pina coladas not slaving away at a keyboard.

the idea is to be sitting on the beach

Naturally my own creative lassitude means that setting this up couldn’t take a large single investment of time nor could the activities required to produce this income be “unpleasant”.  Becoming a crime-scene cleaner one day a week wasn’t the plan.

So I thought about my half-hearted efforts with YouTube over the years.  Here was a medium that had little to no start-up cost.  The time investment was completely manageable and most importantly it would let me try something new and get a tangible personal benefit – i.e. the few hours of footage accumulated over the years of holidays cars and cats could now get collated into viewable moments for our own consumption.

Yes YouTube was going to be the wealth creation vehicle

So I started by moving a few of my early video efforts into a clean and shiny new channel.  As my skills with video are limited they struggled for views, but I was at least getting the channel set-up and most importantly pushing myself to actually process our stock of footage.

It’s now taken a couple of months, but between a successful automotive themed video and some new content collected during our recent Vanuatu trip there’s a solid 30-40 views a day happening.

Through the editing and creation of the 33 videos currently online I’ve pushed myself to learn new skills, getting a handle on iMovie and how to cut together scenes that suit the content.  Let’s face it we want to see cats bounce & pounce, the idle time in between is just time that people will take to click away!

The travel videos on the other hand are longer and often not trimmed so that the whole presentation is given, but they’re chasing a specific audience, viewers like Kitty and I who are trying to research holidays or catch something we missed out on.

But moving back to the subject, 2.4 cents per day.  Yes on a rolling 30 day basis Youtube Analytics indicates a typical $0.70-$0.90 yield.   I’m a long way off being self sufficient on this, but I it would pay for one green coconut a day on Espiritu Santo!

 

GoPro Stuff – Coming to grips with it

When I was gifted a GoPro for my birthday last April I was like all “it’s so cool” but despite some tinkering around with making cat videos I didn’t really stretch its legs until recently.

Two things are immediately apparent;

  1. I need to make more and “better” raw video, the more video I can choose from the more interesting things I may capture.
  2. GoPro settings are important but they’re not the main factor, having a couple of “goto modes” and an understanding of the framing they provide is really all it takes.

To address the first problem all I need to do is actually use the GoPro.  Sounds simple but it’s true.  Sometimes a degree of self-consciousness can tip in, other times it’s too weird to carry around or have strapped into or on the car.   Then there’s the “how many times do I do the same thing” problem to get different angles or views.

The second problem is addressed through use, but also through excellent resources like Abe Kislevitz who seems to have tried enough of the settings in practice and then is able to write about them in a realistic comparative way.  http://abekislevitz.com/understanding-your-new-gopro/ is essential reading for any new GoPro owner, and a thorough browse through his Blog & Portfolio, especially the user comments where Abe actually drops great succinct tips in response to questions will go a long way to unlocking the magic of these cool little cameras.

So back to my video efforts thus far, I’m most proud of my first bit of real underwater footage – It gave me an understanding of the cameras capability and captured memories that previously just weren’t possible. I’ve got another couple of hours of raw video to edit from a different day, and I’m expecting it to reflect the increased comfort I had with the camera after the first 30 minutes use in water that made this video.

The second video here is just an edit together from a single drive.  It’s the footage where I started to realise that the mounting of the GoPro really is the most important factor.  The camera was secure, but with a couple too many pieces used to position it I got shake, not much but enough.  Still, the video quality worked out OK, probably thanks to the bright sunny day.

Next challenge is to do some more on-car footage and see if we can get a complete 2-3 minute video with a number of angles and action sequences.