Hey you! My name is Thomas “TomSka” Ridgewell and I am a writer and director. I come up
with the stupid ideas and then work with a brilliant team to make them a reality. Today
I thought I’d tell you about the start-to-finish process of how one of my videos gets made.
First of all we have the birth of the idea. Ideas can come from anywhere at any time but
I get a lot during what I call “dead time” which is when you’re stuck doing something
monotonous and your mind is free to wander. Showering, travelling, exercising. It’s different for everyone though.
Next is storage. It’s unlikely I can immediately act on a new idea so I need to make sure I
don’t forget it. I usually first write new ideas either on my phone or in my sketchbook
and eventually transfer them to my project bank which is a physical and digital document
with literally all my creative ideas written down.
After a massively varying amount of time, the idea will be selected for development
pre-production - which first means writing it. These days I prefer to partner up with
my co-writer Eddie here because… I like writing with him and I think the videos turn
out better for it. First we plan out all the jokes and beats on paper and then type out
a first draft of the script. Which is usually the only draft of the script. Because we are good at what we do... Yes, that's why...
Once the script is ready it’s time for the producer to get to work. Their job is to bring
all the right people together and make things happen. Camera, sound, makeup, etc. If the
project is simple, they’ll take care of booking the location too. Just all the exciting paperwork and logistics. Yay!
Then, before the shoot, we prepare. Makeup and costume are told what to bring, camera
and sound are given an idea of what kind of equipment they’ll need, the cast rehearse
(but I never do this because I’m garbage), a shot-list and/or storyboard is made to ensure
the shoot goes smoothly and nothing gets missed (I also sometimes don’t do this because
I’m garbage), and finally call sheets are sent out to all cast and crew so everyone
knows where to be and when.
Now comes the shoot! If everything has been well prepared everyone just shows up, does
what they’re supposed to, and we all go home happy. Unfortunately this is reality
and something always goes wrong. That’s when it’s the producers job to fix it or
the directors job to work around the problem. Filmmaking is basically a lot of creative problem solving.
After the shoot it’s time for post-production which begins with editing. The footage is
transferred to the computer and into the editing software where, to make everyone’s life
easier later, it’s sorted into scenes and shots and sometimes even individual takes.
The editor, which is usually Elliot here, puts together a rough edit of the video before
I come in, tell him to change everything until I’m happy with it, and then we’re picture-locked!
The picture-locked edit is then sent off to the visual effects artist and the composer.
The visual effects artist adds all the… Visual effects obviously and the composer
scores all the music. If needed I’ll type up a big email to each of them breaking down
what needs to happen and then once they sent over their drafts, I’ll usually give a round
of notes, and their work is finished! They are free.
Once the VFX and music are complete an updated version of the video is handed over to the
sound designer and the colourist. The sound designer’s job is to make everything sound
amazing - to make the dialogue clear, add in sound effects, mix the music in and if
they’ve done their job right you won’t notice their work at all. The colourist, unsurprisingly,
fixes all the colour and just generally make the visuals look as good as they possibly can.
Now that everything is complete, a final edit of the video is put together. The opening
sting and end-card is added and the video is compressed and exported so it’s nice
and pretty but not a huge file size.
Finally, the video is uploaded to YouTube, a thumbnail is designed, the tags and description
are typed up and… It’s done. We make it live, I share it around on social media, and
ideally you do the same. And then… The process starts all over again.
So I hope that was interesting and, just remember, you can always check out my video descriptions
if you wanna know more about the people involved who aren’t me. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.
TomSka ou-
Actually, one last thing, I wanna point out that this is where I am now but it’s not
where I started. When I began making videos it was just me and a handful of friends standing
in fields, making stuff up as we went along with no technical skills to speak of, using
only this camera. If this all seems overwhelming or unattainable I want you to know that…
I understand. I get it.
A few years ago I visited the set of a huge production and left feeling completely demotivated
because… How could I ever hope to reach that level? But the fact is, everyone starts
somewhere and you can’t run before you walk and you can’t walk before you crawl. The
only guarenteed way to fail at something is to not try. So if this is what you want to do then…
Get to it. Right now. Do it.
TomSka out.