About Steven Aitchison
I have had a lot of email about the video production for CYT and if you look at my videos you will see the difference from the first video to the last video and how far I have come in a short space of time.
So, today I wanted to give you a behind the scenes tour of the videos I have been making for CYT. As you will know I have been learning as I have been going along and I have now come to a point where I am happy with the videos I am producing. There is still a bit of learning to go but I feel I am 80% there.
So here is the video of a behind the scenes look at the video production set for CYT.
Equipment
What I have in terms of equipment is:
- 1 Camcorder – Sony HDR XR520
- 1 Tripod stand which I borrowed from work
- 1 Shelving unit which acts as a table desktop
- 3 point lighting kit consisting of 3 Soft boxes (from eBay)
- 1 Seemless paper roll (11m x 3m from Ebay)
- Camtasia software to edit the videos
- Software to convert the camcorder files to MP4 (Aiseesoft, which converts MTS files to MP4 files)
The softboxes can be bought on ebay for around £190 ($300). Make sure they have fluorescent lighting with 5400k light intensity which is the same is the brightness of natural light, so you can still have the lighting set up in a well lit room. My softboxes have 5 x 45watt bulbs in each.
I hope this helps a lot of people who are thinking about getting into video. It’s not as hard as some people think, and I have still got a lot to learn and I am sure there will be some readers pointing me in the right direction to make my videos better so we can all learn from each other.
Subscribe to CYT and
receive a FREE copy of
Volumes 1 & 2 of
The Best of CYT
hi steve,
how are you?
thanks for sharing this and my!! you’ve got a set up here. your investments have paid off in the production of new videos on the site. you’ve also got a pretty wife and two lovely boys. the one on the left looks a lot like you.
take care of yourself.
p.s. hope you got my email
.-= ayo´s last blog ..How to Savor Every Moment of Your Life =-.
Ayo, great to hear from you. My wife is a bit of a babe isn’t she
and the boys are fantastic.
I replied to your email and thanks again for all you are doing with the magazine it is looking great.
I also think that when we’re comfortable in creating videos, we can start considering making closed captions for them, or providing text transcripts for the spoken parts. This will really help people who can’t hear the audio of the videos. Thanks.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..How Accessible is the iPad to Persons With Disabilities? =-.
Hi Julius. I know I know, it’s extremely time consuming to do this, even for a 5 -1 0 minute video but I am still looking to do this.
Hi Steven. Thanks so much for your response. Truly appreciate it.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..NVDA: A Free Alternative to Screen Readers =-.
Thanks for sharing Steve!
This is very helpful for me because I’m into making and implementing videos on my blogs. I need to invest in some more lighting. I’ve got a good camera and a tripod.
Great tips!!
Hi Jarrod, I think the lighting makes all the difference. For a few hundred dollars I think it’s money well spent.
Steven this was very timely for me, I am finally starting video blogging too that I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. We’ll see how it goes:) Thank you for sharing!
.-= Lana – {Daring Clarity}´s last blog ..Selling Sucks: the truth behind selling Your Thing. Your Art. Your Love. =-.
Hi Lana, Looking forward to videos from yourself. Did you not have a few videos of yourself before you remodelled the blog?
Hi Steve,
Thanks a bunch for the video tips. I’ve definitely enjoyed your video blogs. Great photo of your family!
.-= Greg Blencoe´s last blog ..How To Be Universally Attractive =-.
Thanks Greg, I appreciate your comments about the videos and my family.
Although I have yet to create a video for my blog I do expect to do so eventually and your detailed article will stand me in good stead. Thanks so much for including the equipment list. Acquiring what I need what will be my starting point.
.-= timethief´s last blog ..Social Bookmarks for WordPress.com Blogs =-.
Hi Timethief.
I think video is worth pursuing and think it will feature more as it helps readers connect with the blogger more.
.-= Steven Aitchison´s last blog ..How To Produce Videos For Your Blog =-.
Thanks for the tips Steve, I’m going to be start using videos in my blogs as to me they are very powerful in gaining a deeper rapport.
Thank you
Joseph
Hey Steve,
Thanks for a very useful post! I, too, am beginning video so I find the info. helpful. Perfect timing! Great family!
Regards,
Lauren
Hi Lauren. I think you would be good on video and look forward to that. I have to admit to having a fantastic family life and I am truly blessed with my wife and two sons.
Great job on your videos Steven!
Isn’t video fun?!?!
I’ll admit I’ve had my ups and downs… yet I think I have a pretty good system down now.
Looks like from this video that you’re not doing green screen anymore… I almost tried that out and then decided against it… Did look like a lot of fun though.
Thanks for sharing your great tips.
-S
.-= Susan Liddy´s last blog ..Coaching Tip: Quieting the Negative Those Voices =-.
Hi Susan. Videos are just great to play around with Susan. I am not doing the green screen any more and still have a few lighting issues but a lot of that can be sorted with the camcorder settings as well.
I’ve just subscribed to your blog to check out your videos again , maybe you can give me a few tips
This was really cool Steve. Compared to my setup yours is looking first class. You’ve encouraged me a lot in this area and I really appreciate your insight.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Positive Attitude Anchoring for Instant Access =-.
Hi Jonathan, thanks. I started off on the low end scale as well and it was a great, but steep, learning curve. Your videos have great content, I’m trying to mask my content by tweaking the production
HI Steven,
This is awesome information! I had no idea how to do this video blogging thing..but have been thinking about it. I guess now I know where to start atleast
Thank you as always fro being my best resource
Much Love~
Z
.-= Zeenat{Positive Provocations}´s last blog ..De-Stress With Laughter{RAOKA} =-.
Hi Zeenat
Thanks for your words would love it if you were to do videos as well, I think they would be fabulous.
Steven, this was informative and fun to watch. Thank you for taking so much trouble to share your video set-up secrets. And your equipment pointers come just in time for me to start thinking about what I might need. You have an awfully impressive looking desk space which clearly inspires you in your writing and other projects. I very much enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes. Smiling at last from the mountains in Japan – Catrien Ross.
.-= Catrien Ross´s last blog ..Catrien Ross on Finding 9 Powerful Meanings in Your Smile When You Don’t Feel Like Smiling =-.
Hi Catrien, I love my desk. My wife hates it as it is too big for the room, but I fell in love with it when I saw it last year. Thanks for your words and am glad you are at peace in Japan
Steven, it’s great to have a benchmark of where I want to go next. I have been considering video for a while, but I am saving up for the funds for that. Any revenues from my sites I am plowing back into re-investing into video and other resources to better get my message across to new audiences. Love your office and your setup
.-= Steve-Personal Success Factors´s last blog ..You Can Use Gary Vaynerchuk’s Key Success Factor! =-.
Thanks a lot for sharing this. wow, so far this has been the most accurate blog I’ve ever read when it comes to posting videos on a blog.
Keep it up!
- Keith of omaha air conditioning
Hi Steve,
I see you use Viddler to publish your videos. I have been using Youtube for mine, is there a reason you prefer Viddler?
Steven,
I’ve wanted to make videos for a while. I bought equipment and then got stuck on being camera shy. It gives me a chuckle that I’m camera shy when nobody is actually there during filming but me.
.-= Nea | Self Improvement Saga´s last blog ..How to Take Your Power Back and Kiss the Victim Mentality Goodbye =-.
Very informative. We just started using more video for our website. What’s tricky is trying to optimize the video to be found in search.
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Parks and Facilities in Pasco Washington =-.
Damn! two weeks too late. I should have posted this to my students who are doing this for an assignment this week!! Thanks Steve I’ll keep it for next year and put it in the module Delicious tag list!
.-= Paul Johnston´s last blog ..So Where Exactly Is Competitive Advantage? =-.
Thank you for the video Steven! I am a film maker as well and would love to know more about this:-)
.-= Emily Giuffre´s last blog ..Why Supplement? =-.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for putting this post up. I’ve been researching video for my wife’s blog (your fellow A-List Club member, Suzannah) and probably the best resource I’ve found so far is Gideon Shalwick’s free ebook. This is an intro to his more in-depth video course, however it contains plenty of useful tips so you avoid all the basic mistakes. I suspect maybe you’ve already skipped those
The only suggestion I would throw in is to setup an external mike. The acoustics echo quite a bit as you’re a reasonable distance from the camera.
All the best,
Peter