Behind The Scenes || YouTube Videos

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Today I'm going to talk about something that usually slips through the net- making videos for YouTube. Obviously the videos themselves don't slip through, they are proudly sat on my channel waiting for you to graciously give them a few minutes of your time, but the process of making them and the things done to get to completion are so rarely discussed, I thought I would talk really candidly about the whole shibang.

I figure that if I find it really interesting, someone else might and if that's you then hooray. Mission accomplished.

The video we are using as our case studio today is THIS Valentines Get Ready With Me (GRWM) which I uploaded on Sunday 31st of January and at time of writing this has over 375,000 views. Happy days.

I didn't realise this snap hadn't been taken but it's kind of perfect for this post. I'm going to use it as a little map to show you all the things you wouldn't know just from watching the video (featured below).

1. Two things about this little spot:

Firstly, see that pink Polaroid? It was gifted to me by a lovely gal I had the pleasure of hanging out with a couple of years ago at a YouTube gathering and also featured twice in the video. First at 0.17 minutes in and then 2.11. Fun fact for you - the picture I was shaking and that you then see developed is actually Katie Snooks filming the video. Originally it was just a nod to each other because we thought it was nifty but now the secret's out and you know too!

Secondly, notice how stiff my left arm is as I intro the video? That's because my bottom was perched on the edge of the teal cabinet and I thought it was about to collapse. We shot that part with very tense thighs and a silent prayer that I didn't crash and break it, haha.

2. This is Katie Snooks or 'Snoozey' as I like to call her. She works for my management company but also runs her own blog and YouTube channel. Since GRWM videos aren't as static as sit down vlogs, she offered to come up from London and film it for me, which I was super grateful of. She filmed using my camera which is the canon 70D with a EFS 17-55mm lens. It was shot on manual mode and I stupidly forgot to turn the stabilise button on. You live and learn. The whole reason the picture above was taken was to demonstrate what a little dot Snoozey is. Either that or I'm a giant. You decide.

3. Darcy dolly debris. As well as filming videos I am a Mama so aim to film whilst she is napping or with family. On this day though my step mum and aunties were unavailable to take her on adventures so my step sister Hollie kindly came round and played with her downstairs. Obviously though, I can't keep my hands off the little squidge and regular cuddles and plays were in order. Next time you see a cut in my videos, chances are there has been a little Darcy playtime in between.

4. Beauty junk. In the video you can see the wires of the hair tools I didn't end up using and I'm annoyed about this. Whenever I watch it back I wish I had moved them before the camera was turned on but alas, you can't win everything. Also in that video I had all my makeup to my right which felt REALLY unnatural and there are about sixty billion edited out clips of me saying, 'ooh it's weird having it all here'. Fun factoid for you there. If you're planning on making a video, ensure you have EVERYTHING to hand before filming. You will be so glad of your preparation.

5. The set up. This is probably the most important part of the making process and something I still mess up on a regular basis! When filming upstairs I always sit in front of my window at around 11.30am as this is when it's bright but not direct sunlight-burning-your-eyes-out bright. To really make the most of the available light I scrunch the curtains up out the way- not ideal but yanno. I use a Hama Star 75 tripod to keep my camera where I want it and usually that's it. For beauty videos I need a mirror and so end up taking a little trolly thing I bought in a vintage shop last year, loading on a few boxes and then popping my mirror on top. So professional!! If I did more beauty videos, I would invest in something a little more substantial but for now, this higgle piggle option works fine. 

^^The video we're chatting about ^^

Tip! Social Media

Once your video is live, you're going to want to talk about it on social media. Be mindful of this during the video making process and be efficient. For example, take pictures on your smartphone as you go, that you can use for twitter, facebook, instagram etc or 'live tweet/instagram/facebook' as you do it (eg. "Excited to be filming my new video!") so that your audience know what to expect and can (hopefully) look forward to it. 

Other things I try to do on filming days are have plenty of drinks and yummy snacks to hand (if someone is helping you film then they'll be glad of them too!), leave myself plenty of time so you eradicate any sense of panic (things are easily fluffed when you're in that mood) and write little bullet points of what's important to be in the video so you don't forget anything.

I am absolutely no expert at making videos for YouTube (or anything haha) but I thought it might be nice to share some of my experiences and things I've learnt over the years.

If you have any questions about anything I've talked about, do ask as I'd be happy to do another post answering all your queries!

Was that useful or interesting? I hope so!

Toodlepip!

xx

Contributor - Louise

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