5 lessons from making videos | #116
Why you should start a YouTube channel
Hi, I'm Pranav
Every Friday, I share my process, thoughts, stories, ideas, and weekly recommendations. We're a community of 160+ curious people reading these newsletters.
Starting my YouTube Channel was one of the best decisions of my life. I have learned a lot by making videos.
One day I saw an Instagram post by Varun Duggirala about a creator workshop he was hosting in collaboration with Kommune. It was on 1-2 May (Sat-Sun) and I immediately enrolled for it. I wanted to start a YouTube channel and thought it would give me good knowledge about the creator economy.
I decided to upload videos on Sunday. On 22nd April I thought, since the 25th is the last Sunday of the month, I decided to upload a video on the 25th and when the next week, workshop happens, I learn by making videos.
In the next 3 days, I made the video, edited it, and published it on the 25th. But, in the same week, Varun announced the workshop was postponed by a few days. But that gave a start to my YouTube Channel.
I have created over 70 videos and it has been a roller coaster ride. I have made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. Here are my 4 learnings from making videos on YouTube.
Consistency is the key
In the start, for a couple of months, I was very consistent with making videos. I was very inspired by Nas Daily for his 1000 days 1000 videos about traveling the world. No matter what happened, I uploaded videos. If I missed making videos in some weeks, I used to wake up on Sunday, shoot it, edit it, and upload it at 12 pm. I used to make videos by waking up very early in the morning to avoid street noises.
I learned to manage my schedule and be consistent with what I was doing. Though I am trying to be consistent at making them now, trying to post them every week.
Become a good speaker
When I was recording myself and editing it, I got to reflect on my videos and know where I was not good at and needed improvement in speaking. Over time, I got to know a lot of things about how I speak, how I should present myself, etc. Since I was making my videos in public, I got a ton of feedback from others on how I could improve videos.
Also, I got to understand the process of what goes into making video content. I used to see other creators and learn from them.
How to do jugad
I have done a lot of jugad at the start. It’s not like I don’t do it now, but have done it a lot in the start.
I used to use my earphones as an audio device, put the phone on a lamp as a stand to shoot and the lamp as a light, used a lot of angles to shoot videos, etc. It was a fun time experimenting with a lot of things at the start.
Many times, we need to be work-doers instead of focusing much on perfection. A beginner has a lot of time to experiment as he has 0 or very less people seeing him, so there’s no one to judge.
I made a video 2 years back in my Pune setup. You can check out the video to see my jugad.
Patience
Editing videos takes a lot of time. If you are editing them on an i3 Windows laptop on Da Vinci Resolve, it will take a lot of time to render the videos. It helped me a lot in building up that patience.
In the start, I did everything on my phone. I made about 15 to 20 videos on my phone. From shooting, editing and even making thumbnails, I made everything on my phone. It was great to learn how to make videos and make them.
YouTube is a great place to make content, and that too long form. Try making just 5 long-form videos and edit them yourself. Not reaction videos or review videos, just facing the camera and shooting yourself. Try taking this up. If you are taking up this, share the link in the comments, and I’ll be your first subscriber.
Weekly Recommendations
See all the precious weekly recommendations here: weeklyrecommendations.super.site
WATCH
Colin and Samir are two great podcasters and content creators. I have learned a lot from them. They have come on a podcast by Ali Abdaal, where they spoke about everything it takes to be a creator and their process of making content and working for other creators.
LAST WORD
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Cheers,
Pranav
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