Noah B Woodworks

A friend of mine reached out over the weekend and asked if I could make her a chess board. We haven’t negotiated a price or a style yet, she asked what wood I like to use. I told her white oak, walnut, maple and cherry. She said that walnut and oak would be cool. It got me thinking that a chess board would be a perfect project to film. I don’t think I’ve made a chess board for my YouTube and it would give me an opportunity to plan and film a nice video. The key word there being plan, as I’d like to maximize the media that I generate. Perhaps do the chess board in 3 parts, with a set amount of Instagram posts in there as well.

I’ve also been thinking it would be interesting to take a NDYakAngler approach to my videos too. He’s a fishing youtuber who gets regular comments that he is the Bob Ross of fishing. His videos are very relaxing to watch and he usually catches absolute monsters. People (including myself) love the simplicity of his videos. He just says “howdy everyone” at the beginning as he paddles through calm water.

There are a few key advantages to his style that might be worth copying. It is a set it and forget it approach. I dislike filming in the shop sometimes because it takes away from the making, constantly having to rearrange the camera. By turning the GoPro on, and chest mounting it, the viewer gets a really good angle of what I’m doing, while I don’t have to worry so much about placement, angle, focus and light. Another advantage is its easy to get a lot of footage to work with, and the GoPro is extremely easy to use, which would allow me to focus more brain power into the woodworking. I wouldn’t have to worry about being on camera very often.

I’ve got a nice camera that I used to use regularly that honestly looks spectacular, so it pains me to not use it. The GoPro is also very nice but it’s a GoPro. I read somewhere that it’s hard to watch a wide angle for a long time, but that might not be true. As I’m writing I am thinking that a set it and forget it approach might be the way to go. Place the nice camera on a wide angle mounted somewhere out of the way so I can cut to a wider shot of the entire shop when I feel like switching it up in the edit. The problem with my nicer camera is that it only shoots for 30 minutes at a time, so I do need to allocate some brain space for the management of it.

My main struggle is consistency. Once I get my approach figured out, it should be smooth sailing. If I can generate a video a week, while working full time and being a full time dad, then I’d be more than happy. I write these blog posts to organize my thoughts in my spare time at work. Believe me, I’d much rather be working in the shop.