Now this is a bonus for anyone looking for video making tips.
Thanks to Ryan Grassley, aka HalfThrottle, for sharing his knowledge and experience.
Please join with me in thanking Ryan by subscribing to his You Tube Channel or visiting his Facebook page and sharing it with your friends.
All links are provided here.
How do I get started?
I started making videos because I wanted to share my adventures with the world. I bought the cheapest camera money could buy and just started uploading. Over the years I’ve managed to create some stuff I really feel proud of, but it took a lot of experimenting to get there. YouTube is a great place to try new things, you’re not going to get cancelled if nobody likes your video. So my best advice on how to make videos is just start doing it. Use whatever equipment you have, even if it’s a cell phone camera. Get out there and start creating, because you’re going to have to make a lot of crappy videos on the road to making some good ones.
Which camera should I buy?
The one you can afford. Having a top of the line camera isn’t important. Having interesting content is really the only thing that matters. I have slowly upgraded cameras over the years. Right now I have a Drift HD as my helmet camera, and a Canon Vixia HFS100 with a shotgun mic as my main camera. I might get one of those fancy DSLR’s when my budget allows.
What editing software should I use?
A lot of beginners edit with iMovie. It’s a great program and I used it for years, but have since moved on to Adobe Premiere Pro. iMovie has some flashy themes and transitions that a lot of people think are cool. Now go turn on the TV. Did you see flashy transitions? No. Using that sort of stuff often takes away from the content in your video rather than make it better. Start paying attention to TV and movies, think about where the camera had to be to get that shot. What would you do if you had to film the same scene? When your Mom yells at you for watching too much TV tell her you are studying to become a film maker.
Make the videos you want to make.
If you don’t enjoy the films you are making you will get burned out fast. My YouTube channel is about motorcycle adventure, but over the last week I’ve been in Panama City working on a time lapse video which has nothing to do with motorcycles. A time lapse video is just what I felt like making right now. I don’t try and please anyone but myself with my videos. There are so many critics on YouTube it would be a loosing battle. Make the films that make you happy. There are a lot of people in this world, there is bound to be someone else out there who enjoys the same things you do.
