- Can you believe it,
2020 it's finally over.
Doing a little bit of cleaning.
My mom always used to say
that you wanna clean up really well, New Year's Eve.
So you can start the new year clean and fresh and all that.
That's what you're supposed to do.
I didn't do that.
I screwed up.
And I've also been vlogging every single day for 2020,
kind of cheating on some days
where I only filmed for a couple seconds just to do it.
But on my blog channel
there was a little entry, every single fricking day.
I definitely learned a whole lot from doing that.
Some good stuff, some bad stuff, but let's talk about it.
Now the main reason why I decided to challenge myself
to do this is so that I can stop paralyzing myself.
This background's a little weird, isn't it?
Sorry, there you go.
Much better.
Hands down the best thing
that came out of vlogging every single day
was that it kept me in this habit
of just hitting that record button,
even though it's not perfect.
If a toilet in the background, I have no lights.
I literally plopped the camera down
and I just hit the record button.
If I wanted this to be perfect.
I would've set up lights,
worn a microphone, have another microphone.
And sure that would be technically nicer.
But for me personally, I feel like the more I think
or overthink stuff, I really just start to paralyze myself.
And instead of just saying, "Oh, hey, I don't care.
Hit record."
Yeah, filming right now.
We're getting it done.
You know, if I overthink it
then it just becomes this thing I have to do in my head.
And it really starts to feel more like work.
By the time I get all the lights and set up and everything
then I just don't feel as just normal, if that makes sense.
I feel a little bit more robotic
and just getting in the habit
of just hitting record every single day
even if the material wasn't that special,
it just kind of kept me in this mindset of,
"Hey, don't try too hard."
You want to try hard, make it as good as you can.
But at the same time, you have to realize there's a balance.
You know, by the way
there is a reason why I'm sitting in front of this toilet.
We're gonna install this right here.
It's a gift from my buddy Durall
who's the ones that organizes the trips.
And we were supposed to go to Bali this year.
But of course that got canceled.
So hopefully we can do it this year.
So excited to travel again.
But Durall says, hope you start 2020 with a clean butt,
I have this one at home and it's a game changer.
It takes about two minutes to install, enjoy.
Durall Matt, you are the best.
So I guess this thing splits the water line
and this sends water up to this.
And you just see your butt hole, so tight.
And I know that I'm definitely not the only person
that gets in their own way.
I think that's a pretty common thing.
And a lot of people go,
"Oh I want to start a vlog or I wanna do this or that."
And then he started for a little bit
and they look at their own work and they go,
"This is stupid.
What I'm doing is stupid."
And you just kind of overthink it so much
to the point where it just never happens.
You know what I mean?
And feeling like what you're doing is stupid.
I get that feeling all the fricking time.
I mean, look at...
I'm installing a bidet while talking about vlogging.
(Gene laughs)
Does it work?
Oh my God it works.
He also got me a LumiLux Toilet Light.
What!
Oh it's like an RGB light up here.
(Gene laughs)
Okay, so it's motion controlled.
There's five different brightness levels
and it's RGB so you could change the color.
Look at this.
My toilet's a little party.
What the heck?
And it's got a little motion sensor on here.
So it only really turns on if I'm in the bathroom.
This is kind of cool.
Appreciate it Durall.
You have the most thoughtful gifts.
Kari you have to sign on the card.
Look at that.
That looks like there's treasure.
Like, you know, when you open up a treasure chest,
it's like.
(upbeat music)
and then we've got a hose too.
- How do you do that?
You like, just make sure that your aim is right.
- [Gene] Yeah.
Not that hard.
- Is there like a low...
(Kari laughs)
- It's just full blast.
A handle just clips in like that.
Piece of cake.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Yeah, it works.
Kari you wanna give it a try?
- I'm good.
- [Gene] No later.
- Later.
- [Gene] Just not on camera.
- Yeah.
- Okay, now let's talk about gear.
And if it records video, I've probably tried vlogging on it.
Anything from my phone to cinema cameras.
I even shot an entire vlog shot on a drone.
But right now my go-to setup is this right here,
the Sony A7s III,
with this 16-35 F/4.
The reason why I went for the F/4
instead of the F/2.8
is because this F/4 has optical image stabilization.
That paired with the active stabilization on the camera
makes it so that even if I'm running around
it doesn't look too crazy shaky.
I shoot everything in 10-Bit S-Log 3 in all I Kodak
but I do shoot in HD.
I don't shoot in 4k 'cause the file sizes will get insane.
And the thing is YouTube compresses all the footage anyway.
So I got this tip from Matti Haapoja where you shoot in HD
but you still upload in 4k,
that way YouTube will compress it less.
Like right now I'm shooting in HD.
But if you switch it between 4k and HD,
you're still looking at HD footage,
but there's just less compression.
So it looks better in 4k.
The 4k would be useful if you do a lot of cropping
in and out in post, but I don't really do that too much.
So it's not a problem there.
And the reason why I shoot in the all I codec
instead of the compressed codec
is because the computer just edits it better.
The compressed codec is more work on the computer.
So even though they're smaller in file size,
it's just harder to edit.
So I like to just turn things around really fast.
I don't want to make proxies.
I don't want to trans code.
I wanna be able to just download, edit, render.
Now this set up can dry you up cause it's over $5,000.
And the only reason why I was able
to justify getting a camera like this
is because I also do video production as a profession.
So I look at it more as an investment.
You do not need a setup this insane for vlogging.
For example, check this little guy out, all small action.
I have a PGY cage on there, a little microphone
and I just kind of leave this somewhere in the car
or in the van or in the backpack,
depending on what I'm doing.
It's a great little psychic.
You can still attach a microphone through some adapters.
I'm gonna throw links to all this stuff down there
in the description, but you can still see yourself.
It has pretty good image stabilization.
It's a fairly inexpensive action camera.
The only downside is action.
Cameras do not do great in low light.
It's not going to look super cinematic
but during the daytime you can walk around.
It's gonna look pretty good.
And it's a nice wide angle.
I also like that it's pretty good at holding a charge.
I mean, I haven't used or charged thing in over a month
and it's still holding
about a 70 to 80% battery charge on here.
So even if you neglect it for a little bit
you can pick it right back up and start using it right away.
My first vlog camera was probably the ADD.
I wouldn't really recommend that now.
I would say get the Cannon M50
which is a good budget camera.
That's pretty compact.
Pair that with an 11 to 22 mil lens
and that'll do a pretty good job for you.
And it's gonna give you good canon colors
just right out of the camera.
You don't have to do all that color grading.
Trying to get something in the middle.
Then I think maybe the Canon EOS RP
is probably one of the best values.
You're getting great cannon colors.
You're getting a full frame sensor.
You get that great dual pixel autofocus
and then maybe pair that with a 16 to 35 F4.
But the main things you're looking for
is really a camera and lens combo
that's going to be wide enough
so you can just hold the camera.
It's not too far.
And it's still a nice wide shot right here.
I definitely need a good solid flip screen.
I don't know how people used to vlog without that.
Definitely need a good spot to mount your microphone.
You definitely want some good autofocus.
That's important.
I've tried out a dozen different microphones
and I still keep resorting back to the VideoMic Pro plus
I show it to you, but it's mounted on top of this camera.
It's a couple hundred bucks
and I've tried switching
to multiple other microphones before.
And I was excited to try the one that communicates
with the Sony hot shoe here
so that you don't need a cable running out the side
and plugging into here.
I ended up not liking it
because you can hear a lot of the handling noise.
This video, Mike proposed
even though I'm touching the cameras
it tends to stay pretty suspended.
And it does take up quite a bit of space.
It is pretty large, but it's worth it.
I have a dead cat on there
to block out a lot of the wind noise.
One of the great features of it is that you can set it
so that it reports the left channel louder
than it does the right.
So in case you clip or you talk too loud and it peaks
then you have a secondary backup channel
that you can use to recover.
It's honestly the microphone that's given me
the least amount of problems.
And I've tried a bunch of other microphones.
I like this microphone a lot.
If you're looking for something smaller or on a budget
I think there's the Movo VT plus...
I don't know how I'm going to put it right here.
I think it's about 40 bucks or something like that.
Sounds pretty good.
And it doesn't require batteries.
So you don't have to worry
about turning it on every time you start up your camera.
'Cause if you have a microphone that doesn't auto detect
when your camera turns on, you could be in trouble.
I've done it a bunch of times where I turn on the camera
get to turn on the microphone and it's like,
"Oh crap I didn't record any audio."
It's just, which makes it pointless.
Let's go down to the switch pod
which you've probably seen already.
Love this thing.
It's the way to go for something really ultra compact.
A lot of people like to use the gorilla pod
with the bendy leg.
I don't like messing with that thing.
I like just going to swing this thing open
set it down and sure I can't, you know,
wrap it around a tree and all that
but I realized I don't end up doing it that much anyways.
Now the switch pod doesn't really come with a head.
So you decided what kind of head you want to put on here.
And that is a quarter inch.
So that's the smaller thread that you typically
see on tripods.
Now I ended up going for this Manfrotto head.
I really like how rugged and sturdy it is.
And also I switched from the JOBY one that I used to have
because this one has a pretty secure locking mechanisms.
Like you can quickly release it by doing that
but it's two stages.
So you have to first release the safety
and then you can unlatch it.
So it hasn't accidentally come out on me before,
now the previous one I had was just one thumb screw.
And while I was hiking
and I had this whole rig attached to my backpack,
it came undone and my Canon EOS fell,
hit the ground
and the touchscreen got all messed up after that.
I basically just have a lot more confidence with this.
And one thing to keep in mind
is that the bottom is a 3/8 inch.
So that's the bigger side screw than the 1/4 inch.
So you also have to have a little adapter like this.
So this would just convert that 1/4 inch
to a 3/8.
And then now you can go ahead and attach this on there.
Now the plate I leave on here is peak designs dual plate.
And why I liked that dual plate
is because one you can attach
to this Manfrotto style plate right here.
You turn it all the way.
And now it's an ARCA-Swiss.
So now it fits onto my peak design tripod
without having to swap out the plate.
And this thing's pretty cool too.
You attach it to whatever backpack strap
and you can just drop your camera in.
And finally, this peak design tripod right here,
a lot of you guys are gonna give me crap
because this is such an expensive tripod.
But I'm not kidding this is one of my favorite things
in my kit.
I just love how small it gets.
And also this is the carbon fiber version.
So it's very lightweight.
It's lighter than the aluminum version
that this camera's actually standing on
but the aluminum version is gonna be quite a bit cheaper.
And it's also going to be a little bit more sturdy too.
This carbon fiber tends to have a little bit of flex in it
but again, it's my favorite.
I put this area Alexa on here before
just to see if it would hold and it did.
It's crazy.
And again, this plate never leaves the camera
because from here I can slide into here.
I can hook it into this tripod,
which is an Arca-Swiss
where I can hook it into this right here.
And remember, keep in mind that this is all stuff
I accumulated over years of vlogging.
You definitely don't need nearly this much stuff to vlog.
I've shot vlogs entirely on my phone
and they actually look really good.
I think if there's one downside of vlogging on your phone
is the audio quality.
So just have a couple of different solutions
to record better quality audio.
That you're good.
I think I should do a full on video
on how to set up your phone
to be like a really good vlogging setup.
I don't know.
Let me know if that's something that sounds interesting.
And I'm tired of talking already.
Oh my gosh guys, I'm tired.
I'm out of breath.
I can't talk.
My voice is gone.
Brief intermission brought to you by Pita.
Hey buddy, who's a good dog.
Who's a good dog.
I also do try to time out my vlogging to the morning
and also around golden hour,
partially because of better lighting in those hours.
But also because my energy levels tends to fluctuate
throughout the day.
And for me personally, I have a lot of energy
in the morning, right after I wake up and then around noon
I tend to dip down and I'm mellow out a little bit.
That's when I like to do some editing or anything like that.
And then around golden hour or the evening
I start to get my second wind of energy.
Now looking back on my old videos
I definitely tried to be more like,
"Wow."
I don't know why I used to do that.
I look back on those and I definitely cringe now.
So I don't do that anymore,
but I definitely try to capitalize
on when I have a lot of energy
because if you're in a good mood
and you have a lot of energy, everything just flows.
Everything just feels smoother.
And it's fun.
If you're tired
or you're in a bad mood, vlogging is not fun.
And it's such a terrible experience.
And sometimes like for me, at least
I couldn't say a sentence clearly,
I would have to do five takes of everything.
So mood definitely has a big role in it.
And I also like to edit as I go.
So instead of just shooting out the whole vlog
and then sitting down and editing the whole thing
I like to shoot a little bit, edit it a little bit,
shoot a little bit, edit a little bit.
And that way you get to see what you're shooting.
And also I feel
like a lot of times when you're filming stuff
it's like none of this stuff is interesting.
It's very hard to know what you filmed is usable
and how much of it you want to delete.
But I really see what the video is gonna really become
in the edit.
So if I shoot half of it and I have a little visual idea
and more inspiration by seeing how the first half came out
it's more likely for me to be able to complete the vlog
in a more cohesive, nice and clean.
I don't know, big words
but you get it what I'm trying to say, right.
And finally, I'm also comfortable in front of the camera.
This took forever and Kari is too.
Finally comfortable being in the video.
- Yeah, but not in your underwear while I'm gardening.
- [Gene] Oh why are you wearing my underwear
when you're gardening?
I don't know why,
but talking to a camera is such a weird feeling.
And I think it's because it just doesn't respond to you.
You know, you can talk to a camera, no problem.
If you're FaceTiming somebody,
but as soon as there's nobody reacting or responding
to what you're saying, it's the weirdest feeling.
And I remember the first couple years
of trying to look into the lens and say stuff.
It was just like, what am I do is so uncomfortable.
So for anyone that's trying to vlog and you know
you have this really, really awkward feeling.
'Cause you're talking to something
that's not responding to you.
Then don't worry.
Everyone feels that way at first at least.
And some people get over it faster than others.
It took me a pretty long time
but after just vlogging over and over and over again,
now I feel like this is a normal thing.
People still look at me like I'm (beep) insane,
but still like
I don't feel too weird anymore.
But vlogging every day, wasn't all good.
A 100% of the time.
I think the worst part of it
was that it pretty much drove me to insanity
near the end of it.
(Gene laughs)
You know I never really thought that vlogging
everyday would do that to me.
I just thought,
"Oh, you know I'll just continue living my life
and bring a camera along."
But near the end of it, man, it got kind of nuts.
It started to feel like everything I was doing
was for the vlog
and I felt like I could never take a break away from it.
Even if I force myself to put my camera down
then I was still thinking about,
"Oh what would be an interesting thing to do
for the vlog and this and that."
And I never really did things just for fun.
For example, look how dirty it is.
It's been neglected.
I rarely ride it unless it's for a video.
Before YouTube writing was something
that I would do every single week without missing a week.
I think it was one of my favorite things to do.
But now I feel like I don't do activities
unless I feel like it can fit into the vlog.
That wasn't really a problem
for the first eight or nine months.
But near the end of it
it definitely started to feel like I would vlog
because I have to, not because I wanted to.
That or maybe it was just too much
of a good thing, you know, like Mac and cheese, right.
We love Mac and cheese, but if you had it every single day
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you'd eventually hate it.
Like today's January 1st, 2021.
And it's the first day in over a year
where I don't really even have to vlog
but now that I don't have to do it
I all of a sudden got this burst of energy of excitement.
And I'm like, "Oh, well I don't have to do it
but I want to do it."
Does that make sense?
Like, it's just one of those weird things
where if you don't have to do it, then it's fun.
But if you have to do it, then it's not fun.
So I think the lesson I learned is that
I should go ahead and vlog if I feel like it
but I'm never gonna put another set of pressure on the vlog,
if that makes sense.
I don't wanna ever be like,
"Oh you must do this on this day."
I'm gonna go for a ride.
And you know, usually I'm like,
"Oh well I have to bring a camera with me and film."
And I'm just gonna do it and leave the camera here.
I'll see you guys when I get back.
Now, one of the things that I'm happy
about is now I have this personal record
of every day in 2020.
So if we ever have grandkids, we can be like,
"Hey this is what grandma and grandpa was doing
the year 2020."
And by that day, they'll be like,
"Oh yeah you lived through that."
It's also interesting how much we forget over time.
Even if it's a vlog from just a few months ago
if we could go back and rewatch it and go,
"Oh yeah, we did that."
It's crazy how much you actually experience
over the course of a year
and how much of that just gets forgotten.
So I think it's really cool that we have this record.
I was thinking about vlogging everyday again for 2021.
- No.
- No, I'm just kidding.
How does Casey Neistat do it?
He did it like a full on video every single day.
- He didn't have another channel he had one channel.
- But still that's pretty insane to put out an entire video
every single day.
That is insane.
And I think-
- I really am grateful that you did do it for 2020
because you basically captured me in my new relationship.
So that's pretty cool that I can just show people-
- [Gene] Oh that is true.
Like you could see the first days
and she's moving here like in what a month?
- Yeah.
- So how come you don't think we should vlog every day
for 2021?
- I feel like this turned into like a baby basically
because you know when you have a newborn
you have to have like all your time, you don't sleep,
you don't eat.
You're like you have to worry about the baby.
- Now we can just skip a few days and it's not a big deal.
- Like, yeah, it's not a baby anymore.
Now it's like a teenager, you know?
Like now it's like-
- Exactly, exactly yeah. (Sam laughs)
I think the hardest part about keeping a vlog though
is the consistency.
It's kind of like a diet, you know, very excited.
You're like yeah I'm gonna lose a bunch
and two weeks in you're eating French fries
and burgers and pizza.
And another thing is you have to plan to an extent
but you can't over plan because so much will change.
And if you're doing a vlog, you have to be very flexible
and things never play out as expected
instead of going like, ""No, our plan didn't go to plan."
And you just have to kind of like get in this mindset
of like, all right, we're taking a new direction.
Where are we going?
- Also it doesn't help that we chose it
on like one of the craziest years of everybody's life.
Well, yeah, it was very difficult to vlog every single day
because it's like, okay, well we're quarantine.
We can't really do anything.
How do we make an interesting 10 minute video?
- [Sam] Can we make like an outfit out of boxes.
(laughs)
- [Sam] Exactly.
- It's one of those things
where it's like I'm glad we did it.
I will never do it again though.
What is the biggest thing you learned from the last year?
Just being part of the vlog every single day.
- Just pick up the camera and shoot, honestly,
like just do it.
- There's a time and place
to make things look really professional and perfect.
But if you're trying to pair a vlog with that perfection
then it really becomes too much, I think.
Especially if you're doing it by yourself.
'Cause if you want something to look professional
you need a team, a crew.
Anyway thanks for everyone sticking with me
through all of 2020.
It was an insane year
and 2021 already off to an insane start.
So don't unbuckle your seat belts just yet.
This year is gonna be a good year though.
I'm gonna definitely lose some weight.
I'm gonna prioritize my health.
I let the vlog kind of take over for a little bit
but I'm gonna prioritize health.
You know let's I know you probably don't believe me
because I said I'm gonna lose weight
at least 80 times before
and never actually follow through with it.
But this time it's gonna be different hopefully.
That's like all for this video,
Kari would you like to add anything?
- But I don't know what you're talking about.
(Gene laughs)
- What were you saying over there.
Pita says, "Hello though."
(Gene laughs)
- Hey Gene thanks so much for the awesome DJI pocket 2
It's been super fun to work with
especially as a BTS camera on our latest short films.
Also a big thanks to our giveaway boy Sam.
Thanks guys.
I really appreciate it.