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Chris B

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I've never seen praise for a company so quickly shift to universal hate. The new owners of the company have well and truly shafted themselves 

Don't think I posted when I did it but ended up doing some single scene showreel pieces for an actor I know, and one of them he wanted was the Kurtz scene from Apocalypse Now. 

First time I've really had to push low light noise on the Black Magic and I was blown away. Also trying to replicate the lighting, specifically the falloff in a 5ft sq studio was not fun. 

 

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16 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Ooh, the idea of replicating stuff like this isn't something I'd thought of - that sounds like a lot of fun.

It was stressful because I had to be packed up and gone within 2 hours of arriving but actually figuring out not only how they did it but how I could get close to it has always been a lot of fun. 

I really wish I'd taken a reverse shot to show the mass of cards, masking tape and v flats that I had to make it look like a single ray of light and a candle 

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In the new year's resolutions thread, one of the things I talked about was being more in tune with my passions and not being as shy/embarrassed about them and to celebrate them. I also said I wasn't sure how I would channel that passion and do something with - namely my fondness for all things rail (not drug-related rails or any euphemistic sexual exploits, although we all like to party sometimes). 

Well, I wasn't being entirely honest even then. I feel comfortable enough to share this now (albeit with occasional wincing). The truth is I've been channeling it for a couple of years or so now, quite literally. 

I started a YouTube channel in 2020, mainly due to lockdown boredom. I started off just doing a few station compilations - not the most exciting thing ever, quite dull infact, but a useful grounding getting used to to mobile-led filming and polishing it up, experimenting with YouTube's back office, thumbnails, all that rubbish the YouTube experts tell you will help you grow. Built up the step-counter too wandering around trying to catch trains like they were wild Pokemon. 

From there, I started to pull together some bigger features - these were way more challenging, involved more research and in effect became short documentaries. Then I started looking more deeply at things like watchtime and retention rates, etc and gradually trying to improve each one. 

The latest video is the one I'm most proud of - it covers 101 facts about the Elizabeth line. In terms of improvements, the footage is much cleaner/crisper, I've added in some animations from Canva (basic but still fun to create) and I've tried to throw in more fun elements, like a couple of film memes, stock footage, etc. I'm no comedy God, but even watching it back in the edit I found it much more fun to put together and watch through and less dreary than previous efforts. 

What I'm trying to do is gradually make the channel more accessible to what I'd call non-rail geeks - i.e they're watched by a broader audience that might be interested in watching a short documentary about something quirky rather than necessarily being fascinated by the different classes of train (as in their make and number - not upper class and middle class trains looking down at the working class!). 

Most of the footage is mobile-led - this is deliberate and mainly down to convenience and practicality. I've just started shooting stuff in 4K, which is mad when you think you can do that on a little device in your pocket.

One thing I'd like to do is find some kind of additional lens I can bolt on with a good zoom - even on newer phones, the zoom is a bit grainy. It would be great to get some shots where I can zoom to hold on a passing train for longer, or to catch it earlier speeding towards in the distance, or to crop out the regular commuters next to me moaning (perhaps justifiably) about the delays. 

This is all purely for funsies - it'll never become a successful venture where I can quit my regular job and do a Francis Bourgeois. But it would be nice to eventually get one of those fancy play buttons and a bit of coin from the monetisation to order an extra pint or two. 

If you have time, would love to get some honest feedback that isn't a parent going "Oh well done! I'm so proud of you my little Fatty!" or from a fellow rail enthusiast (although those are welcome too, my dawgs). And don't be shy about saying anything you think is a bit shit - any little bits to improve the output are all welcome...though if I sulk, quit the forum and sign up again in 12 months as FattyV2, that's my business. 

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@Fatty Facesitter That was fantastic, and you've got a new sub.

I'm not a huge train fan, but I do love reading about them, watching videos (my freight hopping phase was great, need to get back into it) and Geoff Marshall is one of my favourites to watch.

Your passion and knowledge really comes out on that, and that's always a lovely thing to see. 

Lovely, LOVELY stuff.

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@Fatty Facesitterreally great work. Good voice work, excellent audio levels and decent clips. Have you had any trouble with copyright claims? They are the bane of any doc I make for YouTube.

I see you keep your Community alive, though I will say some of it is complete gibberish to a non-train person like myself. 

I watched the Elizabeth Line 101 all the way through and it was good at what it set out to do. I can't say I was thrilled by every fact (as soon as car numbers are mentioned I'm out), but you wanted feedback from non core audience and that's me. I can't deny a few were interesting and the pacing was spot on. 

Don't worry about using Canva, it's perfect for this and your thumbnails look smart. You're playing the titles game and everyone has to. I think your videos are only going to gather momentum over time. 

Have a watch of this channel: he has great advice for shooting with a phone, and reviews phone lenses etc. 

What's key is that you enjoy doing it. Like you I love making videos but under no illusion it's going to make me rich, just keep making yourself happy. 

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19 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

That's you? I fucking love your videos.

That's very kind DB, ta!

18 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

@Fatty Facesitter That was fantastic, and you've got a new sub.

I'm not a huge train fan, but I do love reading about them, watching videos (my freight hopping phase was great, need to get back into it) and Geoff Marshall is one of my favourites to watch.

Your passion and knowledge really comes out on that, and that's always a lovely thing to see. 

Lovely, LOVELY stuff.

Geoff is the OG of railway YouTubers. Also a huge fan of Jay Foreman's output (Unfinished London, Politics Unboringed, etc). Both icons! And thanks again good sir. 

14 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

@Fatty Facesitterreally great work. Good voice work, excellent audio levels and decent clips. Have you had any trouble with copyright claims? They are the bane of any doc I make for YouTube.

I see you keep your Community alive, though I will say some of it is complete gibberish to a non-train person like myself. 

I watched the Elizabeth Line 101 all the way through and it was good at what it set out to do. I can't say I was thrilled by every fact (as soon as car numbers are mentioned I'm out), but you wanted feedback from non core audience and that's me. I can't deny a few were interesting and the pacing was spot on. 

Don't worry about using Canva, it's perfect for this and your thumbnails look smart. You're playing the titles game and everyone has to. I think your videos are only going to gather momentum over time. 

Have a watch of this channel: he has great advice for shooting with a phone, and reviews phone lenses etc. 

What's key is that you enjoy doing it. Like you I love making videos but under no illusion it's going to make me rich, just keep making yourself happy. 

Cheers chief. No trouble yet with copyright claims - a few people have given me permission to use footage, while some of the other channels and places I've borrowed clips from I don't think are closely monitored as they would be for say, a big commercial brand. I'm sure it'll happen eventually though! 

I hadn't thought abotu some of the more technical facts tarpering off interest for non-trainy folk - I think it's definitely something I need to slim down/trim the fat for. I've got a couple of this style of video left to go on my to do list, then after that I think I'm going to completely mix things up and go with different styles that make use of my own archive of clips without the need to dive too deep into sourcing a different clip to properly illustrate each point - it'll be more engaging and also less time-consuming to pull together hopefully. 

Thanks for linking to that channel as well, lots of great stuff in there already that will come in really handy!

 

 

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2 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

hadn't thought abotu some of the more technical facts tarpering off interest for non-trainy folk - I think it's definitely something I need to slim down/trim the fat for

You do whatever you want - you asked for opinions from nontrainy people so that's what I gave you. But the whole thing about YouTube is to appeal to every niche and I can see there's a lot of traininess around. Check your average view duration on these sorts of videos to let you know. 

But if you did want to diversify you could experiment with more layperson content. 

How / where do you promote your videos? 

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3 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

You do whatever you want - you asked for opinions from nontrainy people so that's what I gave you. But the whole thing about YouTube is to appeal to every niche and I can see there's a lot of traininess around. Check your average view duration on these sorts of videos to let you know. 

But if you did want to diversify you could experiment with more layperson content. 

How / where do you promote your videos? 

At the moment the only promotion is through the community page, Twitter and a couple of Facebook groups. I’ve got a library of clips I’m steadily building up and pretty soon I’m going to start experimenting with shorts. My not so grand plan is to basically try things out on one platform at a time (I.e try and improve Twitter out out first, then focus on Instagram, etc) and see if that helps as well. 

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Good evening filmmaking brethren. So since my last couple of rail-based video efforts, I gathered loads of feedback and had a good think about the process of putting the videos together. I came to the following conclusions - 

- 101 facts, or a similar amount, is a lot to ask people to watch through. Especially when your channel is fairly small and perhaps hasn't earned the necessary street cred yet.
- In line with the above, they are bastards to pull together. Finding the facts, relevant imagery, physically editing it all together, graphics etc. It's still fun, but tiring! 
- The videos could do with more humour - information is great, especially for enthusiasts, but to reach a wider audience it needs to be more digestible. 
- More planning for animated elements needs to be factored in. I'll sometimes fart about on Canva for over an hour before I'm happy with something. 

With that in mind - and some of the excellent feedback I've had from people, including you lovely lot on here and sliding into my DMs (oof), this week I challenge myself to do something a bit different. The results are paying off already. 

Let me know what you think - I like to think this one is a far easier watch than some of my previous efforts. Here are my observations for both the creation process and the results generated so far - 

- This was infinitely more fun to pull together. Far easier to script, overall far quicker to pull together and just generally a more enjoyable process. 
- The process of scripting, graphics/animation creation and physical editing took five days. Monday to Friday. Whilst working full time and battling a cold! 
- It's already my most commented-on video to date - lots of people giving their opinions on the topics discussed, and there's an even split. That justifies the topic alone.
- It's already the best video on the channel in terms of retention rate - a much higher percentage than other efforts. 
- Click-through rate is really high too. Personally I'm not sure about the thumbnail - it's a bit click-baity, daft looking to me, but it seems to be working. 
- It's elevating my other content too - I'm starting to get more comments and views on other recent videos. Good for retention rates. 

The idea was effectively to get a video ready in time for Flying Scotsman's 100th anniversary - it was trending across social media and I knew there would be a chance it would. I also wanted to do something different and was trying to think of a more fun topic than something that was just an information-fest. By creating something with built-in debate, it's drawn a great response. Rail by its nature massively divides opinion, so I think I need to use that to try and make the videos a bit more appealing. 

What I'm keen to try and do next is take other topics I previously had in mind, making use of the massive bank of footage I've collected, and to try and 'sex it up' a bit. For instance, I've got tons of footage of trains in London, almost too much to know what to do with. There must be a way I can use it effectively - it's just a case of figuring out what the heck to do with it all. 

Anyway, all thoughts welcome on the video - all feedback I've had so far has been massive, so thanks team!

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