I have been busy. I haven’t been here, or on any social media, but God have I been busy.
I broke my cardinal rule last week and did some reshoots. I think it is for the better, and I’m happy I did it, but man oh man did it create a bigger workload for me. It’s next to impossible to blend shots together when the lighting is different and the props have moved.
So that’s what I’ve been doing – locked up in an editing room for hours. When I began the venture into making short films, I did it with the philosophy of quantity over quality. I’m aware the saying is reversed for good reason, but I also felt strongly that I could potentially waste a lot of time trying to make something perfect for an audience that didn’t exist. I stand by my former decision, however with trial comes learning.
Once a video is published on youtube, it cannot be changed. Yes, they do have an editing tool, but it is garbage. My big regret with episode 1 had to do with the action sequences and the lack of urgency in their performance. In episode 2 my coloring was weak – the video looks much more dull and visually bleh than a good colorist would put their stamp on.
So with episode 3 I decided I would not publish until I was convinced I had done everything to the best of my abilities, regardless of how draining that course of action would be. A prime example of that is I had a full 5 minute episode fully formed last week before I did reshoots of virtually everything. Now I not only have better shots and takes, but I’ve added some more tension to the story and wound up shooting a separate 5 minute intro to build up the episode’s events. I’m actually more proud of the intro than the scene I initially crafted. As of right now, episode 3 is 10 minutes long – my longest shoot yet. I am still considering splitting it into 2 separate episodes, however. I would love to hear some thoughts on this – should I leave it be as one 10 minute episode?
Anyways, part of me does not feel like posting anything because I’m still at least 4 days away from being ready to publish it. I’ll probably be more active on here when it’s nearing completion. If you’d like to see episode 2, I’ve posted it below.
Thomas M. Watt 
I would be glad to follow you on Twitter as well if you tell me your handle.
Sure! @mwattthomas What is yours??
I can be on Twitter at @therowdywriter
What sort of video editing software do you use for your YouTube movies?
I use adobe premiere pro. Davinci resolve is gaining in popularity and can be downloaded for free. There are more tutorials for premiere pro available online, but it is $20 per month.
Thanks again for the information.