Adventures in Video Recording

Believe me when I say that I am very grateful whenever somebody gives me some sort of occupational affirmation on LinkedIn. But some have affirmed that I am a quality video maker. Had they witnessed all the activity this morning, they’d realize they were being a little too generous.

One of my goals this week was to update my CMG booking page. One of the tasks involved was to craft a personable video, welcoming them to my page, and telling them personally who I am. Furthermore, to do so specifically for that page, acknowledging the verbiage above the video, and also to point to the other video(s) that I plan to include soon. It will have this meta-quality about it. (Don’t look for it yet; it’s not there).

My first hurdle was to purchase a teleprompter. Seriously. I wish I could say otherwise, but I realize now how utterly mandatory this is. Weeks ago I had video’d myself doing a lipsync of my latest parody song, and I had to trash it, all because of how noticable it was that I wasn’t looking directly at the camera, but slightly around it. It was eerie, it was poor, and it made me look vastly more pathetic than usual.

Last week I purchased the cheapest such model I could. It allowed me to use my iPad as a teleprompter. Only, I’m too cheap to even own an iPad. I used a Kindle Fire, the one I got on sale. In fact, I had to buy a teleprompter app for the Kindle Fire, which had an average review of 1.5 stars, all because it was nearly impossible to work with. I had to take my chances.

I also found I had to purchase another tripod for the teleprompter thingie. Yesterday I purchased one at Walmart. Last night I opened it up, and one of the plastic legs totally broke off upon opening from the package. I am not kidding.

There’s only one spot in the house that I use to do videos, and that’s near my office window, where I get pretty good sunlight. Except, this morning, it was dull and overcast. I had to work with what I got.

Luckily, I figured out how to set up the teleprompter without using the broken tripod stand. Why I never thought of using my broken laptop stand is beyond me.

The only time I could do a three-minute video of this sort, without any interference, is about twenty minutes this morning, before I get into day-job mode, gathering my lunch together and cart my son off to school, before I head to work. I drag my divider in my office. I set up the teleprompter. I get my text up.

And what I thought was going to be an easy task took three takes. There was always something off, something wrong, and I fought to get that right.

And I had to do this inbetween dashing about, setting up my son’s macaroni and cheese, brushing my teeth, and getting that frozen cod defrausting in the refridgerator.

Did it work? I hope so. I ran out of time to actually watch it yet, let alone edit it. That last part is what I will accomplish tomorrow a.m., and then I will upload it, and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, it will be good enough. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll earn my video-making stripes after all.