Howdy Readers!
It’s Tally again. Did you miss me? No. Okay, that’s life.
As promised, I am here with some inside information on how I film my videos. I don’t get asked about this a lot, but I do get the occasional question. Plus, this is the kind of stuff I find interesting; maybe I’m not the only one. So, here is the who what when where why how of my videos.
Who. Me. It’s all me. With the exception of my first ukulele video (which was filmed by my roommate), all of my videos were shot by me.
What. My videos. This is a weird question, but I wanted to stick with the 5Ws and an H style. Moving on…
When. It varies. I usually film in the afternoon. Often, I’ll film at about 4:30, so I can start the video upload before I go to dinner, but others I’ll film after dinner. It also depends on whether or not my roommate is in the room. I try to film when she’s at lacrosse practice. A couple videos have been filmed in the morning (Tell Me Where To Sign and Worst Road Trip Ever come to mind), and that’s usually because I didn’t quite finish the song the night before and/or my roommate was studying or watching a hockey game.
Where. My dorm room. Almost exclusively. The only exceptions are (This Song is Probly) So Rad Dude, Let The Games Begin, Maybe Maeby, and Running Man. All of those (except Let the Games Begin) were filmed in my room at home. I filmed Let the Games Begin in the practice rooms at my school, because I was there and my roommate was studying. I film the ones in my dorm room sitting on my bed. I put my Flip camera on an impromptu tri-pod of Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation and a jar of peanut butter. I usually have the lyrics just off to the side. Behind me are the posters, which will occasionally vary depending on the topic of the song, but the normal layout is (from bottom to top/left to right): The Blues Brothers, Scrubs, The Wizard of Oz : : Rocky Horror, Rent, The Rolling Stones : : House, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Nightmare before Christmas.
Why. Because I can.
How. With my Flip camera. It’s kind of awesome. I got one for graduation, which I passed along to my sister last year when I got one with the How I Met Your Mother logo on it (very long story). Like I mentioned earlier, I put it on a tri-pod made out of a book and a jar of peanut butter, which I put on my bookshelf, which is close to my bed. Depending on the time of day, I use different lighting. Usually, I move my floor lamp (which can occasionally be viewed behind my bed in older videos) so that it faces my bed (and, sometimes, I move my roommate’s lamp, too). I do all of my videos in one straight take (although, sometimes that takes up to 25 takes. Ruttin’ Reavers, Three Simple Rules, and That i5 Why took FOREVER). I don’t edit them at all. I just plug my Flip directly into my USB drive and upload the videos straight to YouTube.
So, that’s about it for now. I’m not sure as to the topic of my next entry. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see! (Or not.)
-Tally
