- Welcome to Primal Video Headquarters.
This has been a work in progress for quite a while.
So in this video I'm gonna give you a tour
of where we work, where we shoot our YouTube videos.
And you're gonna get to learn
about our camera setup, the lighting,
the audio that we use to make our YouTube videos.
So this is it. Welcome.
So out on this main area here,
this is where we've got the team sit.
They do all of the running day-to-day stuff of Primal Video.
This all happens out here.
We've got kind of, like, a communal work bench area here
for lunch, for parties.
Not for parties, we don't have parties.
Everyone just works on laptops.
So the idea is that you're not just fixed at a desk,
that you can jump between different areas
to kind of mix it up a bit and have some fun.
Over here, we've got a designated call room.
It's still a work in progress.
We're still waiting for bits and pieces to fit out,
but this whole journey of setting up this place,
it's been a long one.
So we'll have another updated studio tour
a little later on, but we're getting pretty close.
But at one point during the fit out, this thing flooded.
Someone hit a pipe and the whole thing was underwater.
So I like now that it's a little bit closer
to being done than before.
Next step in here is audio treatment
'cause it is pretty echo-y.
But it's just another area where someone can come and work
or take a call or anything, in private.
Also have a small little kitchen here.
This was the first piece of artwork that we hung in here.
So this was sent out by Xreart.
It's an exploded phone, or I guess the original iPhone,
and all the bits and pieces that make it up.
And personally, I love this stuff.
As a kid, I was someone who used to pull things apart,
just to see how they worked,
but I could never actually put them back together.
So I broke a lot of things at home.
My parents weren't too pleased.
But I love this stuff.
So this was the first thing that we hung.
I've also got the YouTube plaques over there.
Super important.
Thank you, everyone, for the ongoing support.
Little couch, super important subscribe button.
Remember to subscribe if you're not already. Great segue.
But in here is where the magic happens.
This is my office. This is the YouTube studio.
And what you can probably hear straight away,
is that the audio is a bit better in here.
So we have spent so much time planning out this space
to make it the best filming spot that it can be.
Again, it is still a work in progress.
We got a few props and things in here
that I will talk through.
But this is by no means perfect yet.
So to do a quick overview,
we've got the Elgato Green Screen here
that we can pop up at any time
if we wanna create more of the mini-Justins
that you've probably seen in the bottom of our videos.
Here we have just a bookshelf just for some color.
Right now, this really doesn't mean anything.
There's a lot of stuff on it.
Some of it's even knocked down and fallen over.
But really, the background of your videos
isn't super important, and I wanna stress that.
So here, this is just color.
This is just some stuff while
we're working out what we wanna do in the background here.
If you've got any suggestions,
let me know it in the comments.
What would you do in this background space?
We've got a real life plant.
Yes, someone has trusted me with a real life one.
Not the fake ones, so it does need some love and care.
We've got a light here that is also just a prop.
It does work, but we don't really use it on.
But this back wall here
is something I've wanted for quite a while.
I really like that raw, concrete look.
It's not just paint.
They've actually put, like, a concrete render on here.
And it works really well
with the lights that we've got in here,
because each of the lights in here
are the Philips Hue Smart lights.
So I can control each one of the nine lights individually,
and it actually changes the background
quite a lot in the video.
So I can stand here in position and record a video,
and just change the background,
and it's gonna look like a totally different video.
So over here is where the magic happens,
where I pretend to work.
No, this is my main desk area
and also the YouTube filming area here.
So we'll cover the filming stuff first,
'cause that's probably what you're most interested in.
So when I'm recording a YouTube video,
I'm standing about here.
So I'm quite a distance between the background,
which is great for that shallow depth of field.
But I'm standing here.
I can see here on this big confidence monitor
what it is that the camera's recording.
We've got the teleprompter there, as well,
so if I need to read word for word off a script,
I've got access to all of that here.
So the teleprompter I'm using here is just a cheapie.
This is the YO-GOGO Teleprompter.
I think it's a really great bang for buck teleprompter.
It's a cheapie, but it works really, really well.
It holds the 4K screen, which is the Lilliput screen.
And for me, I mean, it does everything that it needs to do.
I am a big fan of the smaller teleprompters
that clip onto the front of your camera lens,
which is what I used to use.
But given the setup here,
and it's not gonna be moved around,
this setup works perfectly.
So the camera I'm using is the old faithful Panasonic GH5.
It is by no means the latest and greatest,
but it works really, really well.
It's easy to use.
It means that I can control it from the computer here,
adjust focus, make sure everything is all good.
And I don't need to touch the camera itself.
So, I love that I can just have this stuff set up
within a couple of button presses,
we're good to go, with no places for me to procrastinate.
What I used to find, is that whenever I had to set stuff up
or pack stuff up, I would procrastinate around it,
because it was something that needed to be done.
It was an effort to make videos.
So for me, the perfect studio is having everything set up,
couple of button presses and we're good to go.
Now I guess the only other point to note here
is that because I don't need to touch this,
it's actually just held up on a light stand,
which means it doesn't need to be too stable,
because I'm not touching it
and moving it around or anything like that.
So I'm able to adjust it
to the perfect height and leave it.
But it also doesn't take up much space.
You can see this whole setup here,
is just taking up a very small area of the room.
So, again, I love having this space.
Lots of room for activities,
instead of having gear spread out everywhere.
Now for audio, what you're hearing right now in this video
is the Rode Wireless GO II.
It's taped under my shirt.
But what I use primarily here, is this Rode NTG.
Now I will still have this microphone on as a backup,
just in case something happened.
But the Rode NTG is connected directly into the camera,
so no extra mixes or anything needed.
Again, I'm optimizing for simplicity.
But this microphone
is also directly connected to my Mac mini,
which is my desktop computer of choice in the studio here.
So I can use it
if I'm running webinars or anything like that.
I can just spin the microphone around without breaking it.
And I'm good to go with audio here
if I'm sitting or standing at the desk.
So the computer, as I said, is the Mac mini M1.
It's a base model.
It does more than enough for what I need to do here.
I'm using two monitors.
I'm using the Samsung 34-inch Ultra-Wide Curved,
which I think is an amazing monitor.
Once you've used a curved monitor and one this size,
it's pretty hard to go back.
The second screen here is another one from Samsung.
It is a 4K screen, and it's the perfect size
for doing screen recordings or running webinars
and sharing slides and those kinds of things.
So that's what I use this one for.
But they're all on these articulating arms.
So if I am filming or when I am filming,
I can spin that around,
and that's the screen that I'm using to control the camera.
Now with the teleprompter, as well,
it is just set up as another screen.
So I can grab the little Mac Trackpad here,
and I can control everything while I'm actually filming.
So I don't need to run over to a different desk set up.
I've literally got everything here at my fingertips.
So in here, I already told you
we've got the nine smart lights,
the Philips Hue Smart Lights,
which each one of them can be controlled individually.
It also means that I can control them
from the Elgato Stream Deck here.
So I wouldn't normally have the room
this bright when I'm filming.
So I have different presets here that will change the lights
in the background and also dim the ones
that are in front of me,
so that I'm not getting those bright spots on my face.
So I love that I can control all of this
and really change the look and feel of this room
and the mood for the video, literally at a button press.
So speaking of lighting, the other lights I use,
this one here is a Falcon Eyes light.
This is the main light that I'm using here.
It's not cheap, but it works really, really well.
And I'll have links in the description to all of this stuff,
but also some cheap alternatives for you, as well.
But what I like about this light here
is it is such a powerful light,
but it only needs to be run at low power.
And this big dome that it's got on it
throws a really nice, soft light.
So this is the main light that's lighting me up.
We've got these other lights that are adding
just some ambient light.
But the other light source I use, is the window over here.
So I do have another LED light panel.
It's an amazing LED light from a company called RaLeno.
So personally, as far as I'm concerned,
that is the best bang for buck LED light
that you can get right now.
That's normally there as a backup.
I'm normally just using this one as a primary light
and the light coming through the window
as a secondary light source.
If it's overcast like it is right now,
then that's where I will turn on that RaLeno light.
The only other light we've got in here
is this lamp on a stand.
Now this also has a Philips Hue Globe in it.
The light itself isn't in shot for our YouTube videos,
but it's just casting this yellow-orange light
on the bookshelf to make it stand out.
But what I like about it, is it's also casting a shadow
across here, which just adds some more depth into the shot.
But this is what you'll currently see
for our YouTube videos.
Again, by all means not perfect,
not the final setup,
but not bad considering
there's not a lot going on back there.
Now for the sound treatment in this room,
we got special carpet,
which is much thicker than regular carpet
to take out some of that echo.
The plaster board, or the drywall,
is all special acoustic stuff.
Again, to help dampen the sound
or make it sound better in here, less echo.
But it's still not finished.
So it sounds better, but it's not perfect yet.
So the next thing
that we've got coming through is a curtain,
and that's gonna reach around this area.
Because I'm speaking this way at the camera,
there's still echo and feedback
coming back off that wall, back into the microphone.
So we're gonna have a curtain area here,
a big, special, thick curtain to take out that sound.
But also so that we get the ability to block
out the light coming through the window,
so that we can have a full controlled environment
and shoot with no changes at any time of day.
But the other thing that we did do in here,
was to help take out some of the traffic noise from outside,
is we added a second window.
So there's two physical windows here.
So just adding two windows with an air gap in between them
is a great way to help take out some of that outside noise.
So in here with the door shut,
which is also a soundproof door,
and it's also been sealed, as well.
Then it becomes a pretty quiet area
with not a lot of echo for filming YouTube videos.
Now, there's two other things
I wanna mention here pretty quickly.
For any top down shots that I'm doing on the desk here,
I'll normally try to keep the desk pretty clear.
I do have a microphone boom arm here.
Again, this is just a cheapie.
What I'll put in, is a phone in here.
Just position it across, hit record,
record the top down shot,
and then just airdrop it over to the computer.
So really simple, top down shot,
if I'm gonna show any products or anything in this area.
But the other thing that I'm so pumped on right now
is this little webcam up here.
This is the Insta360 Link.
There is a review on our channel.
Definitely go and check it out.
But this is by far the coolest piece of tech right now,
as far as I'm concerned.
This thing has a tiny little gimbal.
It follows you around. It's got some crazy AI features.
So yeah, that's what I'm using to create
a lot of content, as well.
Especially for content inside of our accelerator program,
a lot of it's just shot on a webcam.
It's that good.
So that's it.
That's our YouTube studio. This is where the magic happens.
Again, let me know what your thoughts are
for what you would do in this space.
I'm thinking some permanent shelves and stuff,
and doing something cool over in this area.
Having a couple of different shots,
different scenes that we can jump between
for different types of content.
But let me know in the comments,
what are your thoughts?
And if you're interested in our video creation process,
check out the video that is linked on screen,
where we take you through everything
from idea right through to release.
I'll see you in there.