Brushing a horse.

Hello there. I had a dream this morning that I was brushing a horse. Dream interpretation isn't all new-age "science," fortune-telling, and spooky-woo. Both Jung and Freud agreed that dreaming is a meaningful product of unconscious forces in the psyche with roots deep in the evolutionary biology of our species. A dream about brushing a horse is symbolic of a great hardship. It may mean that you have much to go through in order to achieve your goals.

I've been focusing a lot lately on building up my YouTube channel. I didn't really need this dream to tell me what I'm in for. It's a lot of work. The making of a single video can take a month or more to complete. There are many steps involved.

Every video starts with an idea. Assuming that's in place the next task is to write a script. It's not likely that the first draft of the script is perfect in every way. So, I'll need to proofread it for grammatical errors, and to make sure I've included all the intended information. At least one rewrite is necessary. That doesn't necessarily mean starting over, although that happens too. It usually means improving the first draft through better word choices and better overall use of the language. After the script is right, I'll need to proofread it again. Once I feel it's really right, I'll start reading it aloud to see how it sounds. When reading silently I may not have thought anything of the fact that I used the same word twice in one paragraph. For instance, the word "design." But upon reading it aloud I may notice it more and may decide to change one instance of "design" for the word "build" instead. It's all very subjective. I'll have done the above steps to this post as well by the time it is finished.

I'm no wordologist :) though I am good at spelling. Throughout the day I'll look up the definition of words to make sure I have the right understanding of their meaning. I also spend time watching videos on storytelling, script writing, character development, plot, pacing, keeping the reader's interest ... The list goes on.

When the script is perfected, I need to record myself reading it. This is the most aggravating part for me personally. I live right on a main road and though I am able to filter out the noise of the traffic when recording, it's always a distraction. I can't help but wonder if I'll listen back, hear the noise and have to start over. Recording narration is also frustrating as any number of things can go wrong while speaking. I can get to the end of a long sentence only to say a wrong word, or make some weird mouth noise, or run out of breath as that last word trails off into near silence.

When the audio recording is finished, it needs to be edited. When recording audio, you may not like a particular read, so you read the same line again. Besides removing the bad takes, I have to edit out the long pauses, the burps, coughs, sneezes, etc. Effects like echo may need to be added to the recording. More often that not, I just add the usual "make it sound better" effects like de-clicker, de-esser, and compression.

Creating a video for my channel, or any channel for that matter, requires video to be recorded. Although it would be much easier on me when recording a build project tour, (such as my Cliffside Frost Cave Portal Hub) I prefer not to build off camera and only show the finished result. What draws me to video creation is the story. I believe that the story is the origin of all art. Before there was song, or dance, or drawing, or carving, there was the story, either fact or fiction. Without the story there is no purpose for art. If the cave man drew a bear on the wall simply to attract bears to hunt or to keep bears away through magic, there is still a story there. The story "Attracting Bears" or "Keeping Bears Away" would be working itself out in his mind as he drew. "Every picture tells a story."
[Digression over]

There are many complexities involved in editing video. During a build I won't record every minute of the building process, only those parts that I think are necessary, important or very interesting for the video. Once the build is finished, it's finished. I may think I have footage of something important only to discover that I never recorded it. Perhaps it didn't seem important at the time. There are many situations where my script goes off into detail about a certain aspect of the game that I'm making the video on, or about my design style and I'll find I have no footage that goes along with the narration. In that event I will often create a set in the game where I can show what I'm discussing. Other times I may need to record a scene inside the game world environment, to fill some space. (This is called B-roll) All the clips have to be renamed to describe their content (i.e. "Starting the build 01" for example) so I know how to find what I want when beginning to edit. During the recording I'm deciding on camera angles, whether or not to pan or zoom, move up or down, the time of day in game, and the weather in game if we're talking about Valheim, etc., etc.

The audio track is placed into the editing software and the corresponding video clips are added one by one. I need to decide where to cut each clip, whether or not to use a fade, or a transition. The audio track may need to be cut and moved forward or back in sync with my video choices. When and where to use music needs to be decided. What kind of music should I use? Where and how should I cut the music in or out? I'm keeping this part short as it could easily be the longest part of this post. Entire books can, and of course have been written on the subject.

Once the video is finished (and even before it's finished) I watch it to see how everything flows. Changes may need to be made. I may have missed an error in my voiceover (it happens), or I may decide to change a word, or the inflection I used on a word. After I'm sure the video is finally completed it's not. lol. My last step is always to watch the finished video with headphones on. This often reveals problems with the audio. A sound goes too long or cuts off too soon. It may be too quiet or too loud. Once I made an entire video with my voiceover in one channel only. :(
Although I had a good laugh reading comments like "My left ear loved this!" Even after doing a final listen and correction it's not uncommon to learn that there is still something I have missed.

When the video is finished, I need to choose a title and create a thumbnail. All of this takes weeks to accomplish.

Why am I writing this knowing that almost no one will ever read the entire thing? I'm writing this to you. You who have read this entire wall of text. You must have some interest in all of this. You must have some appreciation for the process and the time committed. You may live on the other side of the country or the other side of the world. If so, we can't sit down and have a coffee together, but maybe you'll Buy Me A Coffee in appreciation of what I sincerely hope is something that you find valuable.

Thank you. Thanks for watching my videos and thank you for reading.