Yesterday evening I went for nice walk around Little Bennet Regional Park. I had a late start because I had… bathroom issues… let’s just say I was driving there, and I had to turn around because I drank too much coffee. After getting to the park, I was able to walk around for several hours, but the hike bled into the evening which honestly got me a little nervous. I was pretty deep in the woods, but fortunately I had all the gear needed to push through and finish up quickly.
I have this little el-cheapo head lamp that I used, and fortunately I had enough cardio to run through the woods for a couple of miles without a problem. What was once a easy stroll became a evening trail run. As I completed this hike, I really appreciated the amazing low light capabilities of the FX3, but to be honest, I felt like I probably could have done most of the hike with either my phone or a go pro. While the quality of the FX3 is superior, the stabilization of the new go pros are just rock steady.
Whatever it is, I just love the visual quality of the FX3… it has that film-like quality. But it’s without a doubt a pain in the ass to vlog with… and even harder to do a trail run with.
As I create more videos on YouTube, I’m testing out more content and directions. I just published a 30 minute long form video that shows off a Tonal Workout. The goal was to ride the Tonal search terms and give people an authentic look at the Tonal workout before buying. It’s too early to tell if it’s working or not, but it’s definitely not breaking out yet. You can watch that video here.
To experiment further, I’m testing the other end of the spectrum, creating shorter form content about Tonal, more focused on sharing learnings. I just created a video last night about 3 things I wish I knew about the Tonal before installation, which ended up being 2 minutes long after editing. In some ways, I hope that the shorter form content will perform better because it takes less time to plan/edit/render. Less time is also better because most of these tests will probably fail.
When I was working on AddThis, I learned that testing variables meant that you needed to understand what levers you’re “pulling” to trigger different results. In addition, I learned that most test variants were disposable, so it’s best not to waste too much time and test things that are wildly different. I’m hoping to apply this learning to my YouTube videos because on average, it takes at least an hour to plan/edit/render each minute of video.
This is a screenshot from my latest video talking about the Tonal. It has 3 tips and includes on additional tip from one of the viewers. The talking head style videos are the easiest to create because I have a setup that doesn’t require any building/tearing down. The lighting is controlled as well, so I don’t have to worry about messing with the settings. The background/set is pretty bland, but I want to focus on delivering content first, and then I’ll add additional things to the stage for visual interest in the future. I’ll be publishing this content in a couple of weeks, since I have a bunch of other videos scheduled for release.
In addition to testing my own content, I’ve been helping Annie create her YouTube channel as well. She is focused on talking about plants from a overhead view. In her latest video, we experiment with a shorter video (2 minutes) that talks about the availability of the Monstera Peru at Home Depot. I’m hoping that it does well because of the search term and the seasonality of the topic. The goal is to have the video grow organically from search. You can check out her latest video here.
Hopefully one of these tests works. I’m going to keep playing around with YouTube for a couple more weeks and see what happens. I don’t think it’ll turn into a paid career anytime soon, but I’m learning a lot.
As I create new content on YouTube, I realize that I have a lot of skills that I’ve learned over the years to help me test and find an audience. Since I have a little more time on my hands right now (by choice), I’m going to be publishing more videos. While I want the general direction to focus on health and fitness, I think it’s easy to try new things while my channel is still very small.
My latest video is actually a long form video that demonstrates an entire work out on the Tonal Smart Gym. I created another video about Tonal that performed better than average, and it was just me talking to the camera. The funny thing is that I didn’t spend much time on that video. I simply talk about things that would have made the Tonal smarter. You can watch the video here.
This newer video was a little more complex because I used 3 cameras to shoot it. This required me to edit a little more to make sure that the angles captured what I wanted as well as getting the audio right. I had two microphones (one pointing at the Tonal, and another lav mic on me wired to my iPhone). If anything, this took more effort to put together, in addition to taking the thumbnail photo at the top.
I’m not sure if this video will perform well, but I certainly enjoyed making it. I’m going to test out some more content around the Tonal soon, so stay tuned. Until then, check out some of the screenshots below—you can get an idea of the angles I used.
I was avoiding trying to buy a new camera, but I had to do it. While gear doesn’t help make better content, I think it can help you with inspiration and explore. Similar to buying Porsche or Ferrari, it won’t necessarily make you a faster driver… but there’s nothing wrong with owning it and appreciating the sport.
Since getting this setup, I have shot about 5 videos, mostly in a vlog or studio format, and I have had phenomenal results. At first, I was using the stock cinetone 10 bit settings, but I’ve now gone full Slog 3 with cinema grading… and I have been so pleased with the results. The FX3 punches way above its weight class and rivals images that come out of an Arri. I definitely don’t need anything this powerful, but it’s just so much fun to use.
We’ll geek out on the specs a little more in a future post, but I just wanted to express how amazing this machine is. It takes a little work to get the look I want, but I am very satisfied. Now it’s time to focus on story telling.
In the mean time, make sure to watch my latest vlog on YouTube that was shot exclusively on the FX3. It documents a recent walk around Glenstone. These are some screenshots pulled from the video.
It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to photograph myself. I think it may have been because of my weight before, but I’m finally starting to feel like myself again.
A new profile photo kind of feels like a fresh haircut. I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it lets people know that something new is happening. For me, I’ve had to make a lot of changes over the last year.
For those of you who don’t know yet, I’m in the process of winding down Input (a project I’ve worked on for a couple of years). It was a strong experiment and attempt to build something big, but it was hard getting it off the ground. I appreciate everyone for the support and positive energy throughout the years. It was definitely a learning experience, and I will grow from it.
As part of that growth and change, I’m going to take some time inbetween things to recalibrate and work on me. It sounds dramatic, but it’s just going to be a bunch of time hanging out more with Annie, the cats and my family. In addition, I’ll be actually working on my YouTube page more—it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’ve got some good things going. Please make sure to visit it—I try my best to create content that I think you’ll like, and I have fun putting them together.
Somehow I hit my milestone right before my 42nd birthday. I weighed in at 165lbs morning, and it’s probably the best gift I’ve ever given myself. Annie asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday today, and honestly I’ve found that I’m very happy for the first time in a long time, in an honest way. I love our home and our continual iterations to refine our daily experience. Most importantly, I think I have put less stress and pressure on myself to think about the future and try to live a more in the moment.
I think my next health goal is maintaining my weight and start focusing on strength more. I could see myself going down to 160lbs, as I still have some stubborn visceral fat around my belly.
I think for this birthday, I’m going to take it easy and just enjoy doing a little work, do a little workout, and watch a movie.
