YouTube

So I’ve been exploring YouTube lately. Lot of interesting stuff there, and I’ve even found some worthwhile pagans vloggers out there. And since I’ve been expanding my creative horizons as of late, and I’m the kind of egotistical pontificator that would be at home on YouTube, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating and uploading some commentary videos.

I have considered a couple of different options, all of which have their own concerns.

Option one: Full on video featuring yours truly.

Pros:

• Less time to produce
• can show off items or objects of note
• can demonstrate gestures and some techniques
• More natural delivery and more expression

Cons:

• Less scripted
• Loss of anonymity

That last one is a pretty big issue. I’m pretty open about being pagan IRL, but I don’t pontificate on it. My online persona serves as sort of a barrier between “normal me” and “magician me.” Add in the fact that I’m kind of self conscious regarding my appearance, and I’m not sure how out there I want to be. But then again, I am no longer pursuing the career path that prompted a concern with anonymity,  and if my current path works out, I will be just as open if not more so. And when I think about it, This would be little different than giving classes or lectures locally, which I am willing to do and have done before.

Option two: video staring an obscured me

In addition to the above:

Pros:

• More anonymity

Cons:

• More editing time
• cheese factor in editing or perspective tricks to obscure identity

Meh, doesn’t seem worth the effort.

Option three: rendered video with text-to-talk voiceover

Pros:

• Full anonymity
• scripted text

Cons:

• More editing time
• may require software purchases for desired effects
• May come across as cheesy or insincere.

And on top of all of this, I have to adapt to a new commentary style. Many of my posts jump off of stories or other posts that I will fisk or quote, and I cannot do that nearly as in video. I will also have to adjust to a new video commentary community, with its own unspoken etiquette and hierarchy,  and commenters and followers. I would need to think about what topics are blog worthy vs what topics can be covered in a video. And I would have to teach myself new skills to effectively film and edit videos.

And what it really comes down to is the fact that I am often haphazard about the frequency of my posts as it is, and I don’t have a big following base.

Still, it might be fun.

Would anybody out there be interested in seeing me pontificate in front of a camera instead of a keyboard?