[Progress] #AndyTalks

[Andy Black]

Background

(This background part was added 7 days after creating the thread.)​

I post a LOT !!!

I joined the forum 20 months ago and have posted over 2,000 times. That's a lot of posting! ​

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A few months ago I even tried to slow down the posting, thinking it was stopping me from doing "real work". Lol... that didn't last more than a week.​

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I can't stop myself. ​

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I read comments or questions and stories pop into my head. Often I start with a quick response, and end up writing a chapter in a small book. ​

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If I don't answer, it's like a bothersome little splinter in my mind until I go back and answer as best I can.​

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I PM people a lot !!!

Every time someone follows me or sends me rep, I say thanks. I think it's good manners for starters. But I've also enjoyed the little interactions.​

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That's over 600 PMs in 20 months.​

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It surprised me ...

To be made a moderator.​

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To have helped/impacted so many people.​

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That it mostly had nothing to do with AdWords.​

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(This thread here.)​

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Help more people ...

I'm starting to regularly be surprised when a new forum member likes a post from months ago and I re-read it. I mostly can't remember even writing it. I'd like to repurpose a lot of it somehow, rather than have it all scattered to the wind.​

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Anyway, whatever I'm doing seems to have helped people in the forum, and I wonder how many more people I can help if I start posting (somehow) outside the forum.​

Help people more ...

Three months ago @SmoothFranko left the following comment in this thread:​

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Make a show called "Andy's Talks" and you'd have the majority of all active members on these forums watching you. throw so ads on there + ??? = profit?

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I've had quite a few people say I should create an "Andy's Corner", or "Andy's Talks" and just start churning out content.​

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Creating content and interacting just seems to be one of those things I can't NOT do.​

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It seems to help people - so I'm going to see what happens when I double down on it.​

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This was an encouraging reply from @SlowlaneJay that made me smile when I said I was considering it.​

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ohmygodyes

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Thanks @SmoothFranko, @SlowlaneJay, and everyone else who's told me to "shut up and take my money".​

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Renaming the thread ...

I initially titled this progress thread "iPhone talking head videos", but I'd also like to document creating screencasts, creating a YouTube channel, doing live streaming (Periscope/YouTube?), and whatever else I do to get more content out of my head so it helps more people.​

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So "Andy Talks" will do for now. It's a bit embarrassing to put my own name in a thread title. It's not to "brand" myself. It's so people who don't want to follow this thread can avoid it. Anti-click-bait. (I vaguely feel this is something I have to get over.)​

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If anyone can think of something better, I'm all ears.​

My goal ...

I mention this in a later post.​

Help more people. Help people more.​

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I don't really know how I'll "monetize" it.​

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It's obviously an itch I can't scratch, so I'm going to do it anyway.​

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It should be either "Hell Yeah!", or "No".​

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So "all-in" it is.​

 

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[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 001 - Get Your Goal Right!

A few weeks ago I created a quick video to say thanks to @SinisterLex in his video thread here.

I just used my iPhone 5S with the inbuilt mic.

I then bought a lapel mic that didn't fit into the iPhone jack (grrrr). I've since found out there's an adapter that can be used, but ordered a MOVO PM10 lapel mic anyway.

The next test I wanted to do was to improve the audio.

This first video was created using the "selfie" camera, and I found it really hard to look at the lense, hence not bothering and just looking at myself.

#AndyTalks 002 - Improving Audio

The MOVO PM10 lapel mic arrived today.

Here's a video comparing it to the iPhone 5S inbuilt mic, and the standard iPhone hands-free kit.

I've uploaded this video to YouTube for the moment.

I had the normal camera facing me, so wasn't distracted by an image of myself moving about. It was much easier to focus on the camera lense this way too.

I bought the iMovie app for my iPhone to edit this video. All I did was delete the first and last few seconds where I turned the video recorder on and off, and add a "fade in from black" at the start and "fade out to black" at the end. It was then easy enough to upload from the iPhone straight to YouTube and Vimeo.

The first video was done at night-time, and I had the blinds as a neutral backdrop. This second video was done during the day and is at the other end of the kitchen table. I noticed that during the day, some light shows through the blinds. Also, I might as well make the use of the natural light as well as the kitchen light.

I've positioned myself into the corner. I watched a video of a professional film producer giving advice about creating "talking head" videos. He said not to worry about black/white/green screens, but to use a non-distracting background, and try and sit in the corner of the room - so that all the perspective lines lead to you. I wouldn't have thought of that!

Oh, and I was convinced to buy the MOVO PM10 after watching/listening to this video on YouTube.

 

[Guest34764]

You have quite the soothing voice to listen to.

Are you specifically trying to go somewhere with the reviewing?

Or are you just doing that for us fastlaners?