As mentioned in the previous post in this thread, I had recorded a couple of hours worth of video, mostly of the assembly of the cabinet. I’ve been chipping away at the editing here and there in the intervening months. I can’t say I have been working at it consistently. At first, it was almost unbearable to see myself on video, given the ravages of cancer. Being on this earth 54 years now, I developed an internal view of what I look like, and to see oneself – to barely recognize oneself – either in pictures or video can be hard to deal with. In time, I have come to a certain accommodation, and that allowed me to increase the pace of editing work.
I had about 2 hours of footage to work with, and I could have have left it largely unedited and simply uploaded the content with a few title pages added. But I think that in this day and age, people’s attention spans are challenged by the sheer volume of content out there, and I doubted that many could sit through such as long video.
One of course could break the content into, say, 4 half-hour chunks and put it out that way. For whatever reason I decided against that and went with a single stand-alone video. I needed to edit it down, but to what extent?
There are a number of channels I subscribe to, and I tend to like fairly detailed videos. If the information is interesting, I have no issue watching long videos. But I notice that several Youtube channels are moving to a format of putting out lots of short (3~5 minute) videos. I find these quite unsatisfying for the most part and it has decreased my interest in those channels.
I also find videos with extensive ‘sped-up’ sections not to my taste. It’s an editing option, but not the one I chose to use.
And then there is the issue of overall format. There seem to be a few options. A lot of videos feature someone being filmed and speaking at the camera, telling whatever story they wish. Then there are the videos where you never see the face or head of the person, mostly their hands only, and as they speak they gesture with their hands, which are the focus of the camera. Then there is the option to video the person doing the work, and then the narration describing the situation is added later to the video. I’ve more or less gravitated to the last approach of those three in the past few videos I have done.
One thing I find I don’t much like, is the apparent desire or compulsion on the part of some videographers/vloggers, to fill every second of time with talking. Generally, the more talking, the more I get the sense of space simply being filled in, and the more I tend to scroll through. I tend to like a little less talking in a video – it depends somewhat on subject matter mind you- and do my videos in that manner, but of course to each their own.
Of course, I am far from a pro when it comes to video work and production, and there comes a point in the process where I decide it is ‘good enough’ and I’m sure this is well before a video perfectionist might settle.
Alright, disclaimers and hesitations aside, what follows is a video showing the final stages of building and assembling the futon storage cabinet. A bit over an hour long. Let me know in the comments below if you enjoyed the production generally and if, by any chance, you have some constructive criticism or observations to offer, of course feel free. Whether it comes to pass that I ever make another video, time will tell, but I am always eager to learn from past efforts regardless.
All for now. Thanks for dropping by the Carpentry Way.