- I was just trying to do this take,
like this perfect take,
and there was actually a dove on my windowsill
like (cooing), cooing, or hooing, or coo-
whatever doves do (cooing).
Being super obnoxious.
Should just go over and ahh. (laughing)
What's up everybody, Peter McKinnon here,
and today we're talking about
how I make these YouTube videos.
What I use to light them, the audio, where I shoot them,
which is essentially, just a room in my house.
But we're gonna talk about all those different things,
after this intro, woo.
(blues guitar music)
Okay, welcome back.
Now, here's the thing,
I get asked tons of questions on a daily basis.
Be it, if that's through Twitter,
which is where I tend to respond to them the most.
Instagram, which is another big one.
On YouTube itself, emails, all that kinda stuff.
Now I try to get back to as many people as I can,
but it's just so many, so,
this is the reason for today's video.
I want to try and address a bunch of questions in one shot,
by showing you guys the stuff I use to shoot these videos,
how I record the audio, how I light them,
where I keep my stuff, different things that I use
and why I like to use them over other things,
because it's just a really interesting topic.
It doesn't matter what genre of YouTube videos
you like watching, be it you watch gamers
or make-up tutorials, or sports stuff,
or news shows, like good ole' Philly D, bless his soul.
It's super interesting across the board,
to see how people set up their studios,
and how it is that they do what they do,
their creative process;
their little behind the scenes studio arrangement.
Is always something that has interested me
because no two are really alike.
That's what this video's about.
We're gonna get off this tripod in a second.
I'm just gonna walk around and hand hold it all,
like Blair Witch stuff.
So, I think you guys will dig it.
If you have any questions after this video,
you can leave them below.
Maybe we'll do like a follow-up video
or something like that will be cool.
But before we get started on this tour,
I want to take a quick minute to thank our sponsor
for this episode, which are the folks over at VideoBlocks.
Now if you're saying to me Pete,
what are is said sponsor you speak of,
I've never heard of VideoBlocks**.
Well, I am here to enlighten you.
VideoBlocks, it's essentially a massive
online, stock video library, and when I say massive,
it's one of the fastest growing on the Internet.
Over three million video clips,
after effects and motion backgrounds.
These guys have everything
you could possibly be looking for.
They're stuffed to the brim, if you will.
Now one of the really nice things about this website
is that all the clips come with a royalty free agreement.
So you're never gonna get hit with copyright claim,
so you can rest soundly at night knowing that your footage
is safe online and no one's coming after you.
That's one of the best things.
Now it's important to know, it's something,
and it's interesting about stock footage is,
you don't have to just use it
as footage to replace your own clips,
you can very well do that.
I like to do that to fix bad footage.
So if I've shot something that's overexposed
or the sky's blown out and it's a really nice clip,
but there's something in it, that I'm like,
"Ah, that could've been done so much better."
What I'll do, I'll just hop onto VideoBlocks,
I'll grab a really really high-res file
of like a sky, or some quick moving clouds,
something like that, and I'll replace the sky,
in my footage with the 4K clip
that I just downloaded from VideoBlocks.
So they have that 4K footage so you can match
the drone you just bought,
or whatever other devices you're using.
So, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna give away seven days of access
to VideoBlocks, so you can get in there yourself
with that royalty free agreement,
and browse around for free.
Just hit the link in the description below
and we'll get you sorted.
Thank you again to VideoBlocks for sponsoring this video.
Okay, time for the tour.
I'm gonna shoot it on this, but I need this lens.
So I'm gonna swap this out, put this on this.
Please hold.
There we go.
Okay, time to turn this one off.
Bwoop, start the tour.
Okay everyone, I'm gonna do this first person.
So I'm gonna try and not shake the camera
as much as possible, but we are going to start
with the main camera that shoots most of my vlogs,
all of my tutorials,
pretty much it is the workhorse of my work flow.
That is the Canon 1DX Mark 2.
It's beast of a camera.
For me, the reason I chose it is because
it is equally as good for me in photos as it is in video.
And when I'm traveling, when I'm on the go,
I just wanna bring the least amount of gear
with me as possible.
I don't want to continue switching cameras,
and have my vlog camera, and have my photo camera,
and have my video camera.
I'd rather it all just be in one package.
Now this is massive, that's the one downside to it,
it's massive, but it's massive because it's awesome.
The battery in it alone, let's skip over this.
The battery in this thing is huge,
which is part of the reason I like it so much,
because where if I'm outside,
shooting with a bunch of friends,
they'll switch their batteries so many times,
I'm still running on this one battery.
I can go the whole day with on, so it's great.
That's the reason it's so big because the battery's huge.
Bwoop.
But this is the camera setup.
I have it just on a Manfrotto tripod.
And I've got a super clamp down here,
attached to a friction arm.
This friction arm can hold just about anything.
It's super durable and it can take a lot of weight,
so it even hold the 1DX itself.
But right now I have
the small HD 501 Series Monitor on there,
because obviously, I need to know what I'm shooting
because this doesn't have a flip-out screen,
so that's why I've got it attached
with an HDMI cable right here.
Now over here, on another friction arm,
you guys must be able to tell by now I love friction arms.
I'll leave all the links below in the description
if you guys want to check 'em out.
This is the Zoom H4N,
that is what I am currently running my audio into.
Now this is a bit of a, this is a massive setup,
like most definitely not practical for moving around,
but if you have studio setup
or a room dedicated to shooting like I do here,
I just leave this pretty much where it is,
so I can just sit down and start shooting,
because efficiency is key.
The faster I can just get to work and start talking
with that camera rolling without much setup time,
that's when I'm gonna be most productive.
So, I'm able to kind of have this setup
without it being too much of a hassle.
But my audio is running into the H4N from this.
So this is the Rode NTG4 Plus Boom Mic.
I'm gonna get a way crisper, clearer, deeper base,
just higher quality audio with a boom mic
than I am with a Rode Mic Pro, or with a lapel mic,
which is what I was using at the beginning of this channel.
I would lapel-up every single time,
and that just became a really really big hassle
having to do every single day.
And then you get the cord, and it just looks stupid.
So I moved over to this recently.
I've only done one or two videos using it,
and it sounds so good.
These are the new Rode and Rycote SM3 Mounts,
which are shock mounts, so you get no reverb,
no buzz, no none of that, just clear crisp goodness.
And then that cable runs over here.
I've got it clamped down and then,
whoop, into that H4N.
One of the really nice things is,
if you're using a boom mic,
you want to get it on a boom pole obviously,
with a boom holder into a light stand, and grip head.
There's a lot of components that go to it.
But when you have everything that you need,
you can set this up pretty much anywhere
and have it extend over any set and dip into any scene.
Now it's important when you're using a boom mic,
you want to get it as close to the subjects mouth,
or your own mouth, as possible.
So if you see someone using a boom,
and it's like way up there,
and they're sitting way down here,
that's not gonna give you the best results.
You want to have this
as close to someone's mouth as you can.
So look for example.
If I'm sitting down here, my mouth is essentially,
right where you're looking right now.
Right in dead center of this screen.
So you can see that that is nice and close to my mouth
when I'm sitting down here on the couch.
Gonna pick up the best quality audio.
Now this monstrosity here is the Aputure Light Dome.
This is a soft box okay.
So this diffuses the light through two sets of diffusion,
onto my face when I am shooting.
So this light, I love this light.
I keep the remote beside me,
so at anytime, if it's getting too dark,
if it's getting to bright,
I can adjust, just with the remote,
the amount of light that's coming onto my face.
So, absolutely insane.
I can see it through the controller box down there.
I'll show you guys up close.
So it comes with this controller box that you can see,
and these lights talk to each other.
So if you have more than one,
you can use one remote to control them all, which is great.
And they're LED so they don't get hot whatsoever.
This thing has a massive heatsink on top and on bottom,
with a fan that's completely silent, that keeps it cool.
These lights, I'm so impressed with these lights.
I just upgraded to them a little while ago.
They come with beautiful cases.
Their light panel's are insane.
I know they've got lots of stuff coming out,
but this is the COB 120d, if you guys are interested,
d for daylight, they have tungsten one too but, (groaning)
I just don't like tungsten lights.
Moving right along.
This is the gear room.
Inside this room, you guys saw,
used to be a closet, a walk-in closet,
but I turned it into a room for all my stuff.
So I put a little IKEA cubby down here below.
I got a little production blanket here.
Here we have another Aputure light,
this is the LED LS1, the light panel from them.
Really really really nice, I use it as a hair light,
or a bounce or a fill.
Got the GoPros in this GoPro case.
Got the small HD monitors, got the Mavic Box, laptop.
That's where I keep the mail you guys send me,
PO Box address is in the description.
Random cables below, my backpack goes in here.
I got the Ronin in this little thing.
I keep my, (grunting)
I keep mine in this little soft bag
and I just throw this in the back of the car,
and it's good to go.
So it's a lot smaller than a lot of people think.
People are like, I don't want to carry it around.
It just fits in here, it fits in here nice,
and that's basically it,
that's the whole package right there.
Palmed in one hand, and that just fits in this bag.
This is that nice case I was telling you,
that giant light comes in.
Look at that.
Nice little hood for it, bunch of compartments,
zippered compartments.
Nice little hard case to keep that protected.
Super impressed, can you guys tell I'm pumped?
This here, is a massive blimp.
If you're shooting with that boom mic
that I was just showing you guys and your outdoors,
you could put that boom mic into this.
So this is inside a blimp, with a deadcat on top.
Then no matter what kind of wind you get outside,
this thing pretty much cuts it down immediately.
It also coincidentally like it's one of the limbs
from the Wampa from Star Wars, from planet Hoth.
The thing that, you know, you guys ... whatever.
And this is the rest of the audio shelf.
We got another deadcat for the boom mic,
Rode Video Mic Pro, the old Video Mic Pro.
That's my old set of lavs which I don't really use anymore.
And then, ooh, we got the lenses.
There's not much on this shelf right now.
Usually it's way more packed,
just because I'm using half of it to make this video.
One of my favorite lenses, 7200 28, stabilized.
This thing is a beast.
A macro lens, this is the L version of the macro lens.
And I have the non-L version of the macro lens.
So obviously, I used to use this one.
I've had this one for years and years
and years and years and years.
Just upgraded to the L version which is stabilized,
couple days ago, so really excited to use that.
I'm gonna do a video on it.
My trusty 24, you guys know this all too well.
This is the 15 to 45, 15 to 45.
That's a little lens for the M5, this guy here.
And this is the adapter for the M5,
so I can put my big lenses on it, which is super handy.
That is the camera we are giving away on Thursday.
If you haven't seen, boom, like I said,
links below, check it out for your chance to win.
Brand new, I haven't even cracked this yet.
It's just gonna go right in a box and go to someone's home.
So, check that video out.
This beast, I'm gonna do a whole video on this,
so stay tuned.
This is the Rhino Slider, with Rhino Motion and Rhino Arc.
This thing is an incredible slider.
They thought this product out so well.
That's a little look into the gear.
Now, what we do to go shoot.
Down here, all of my toys, my fidget toys.
This thing that one of you guys sent me,
which is just, mm, it's ace.
So you'll see the difference in looking at me like this,
where I'm just lit with the window that's right next to me.
I've got this massive window in my office which is great,
and I use it all the time for natural light,
because oh, I love natural light.
And it sounds pretty good using the Rode Micro above,
but you'll see the difference when I slide over this way,
and then I snap my fingers, (snapping)
now I'm lit using the Aputure Light Dome,
shooting on the 1DX, with the Rode NTG4 plus microphone,
it sounds a lot better, it looks a lot better,
the light's more even,
and it just feels a little more produced,
it feels a little more like the effort was put into it.
Now that's a little give and take right?
Sometimes that's good,
sometimes that's not what you want at all.
So it all starts usually with an idea.
I come up with something that I either, I wanted to know
when I was starting filmmaking and photography,
or it comes from something that I just learned,
or something that I'm really passionate about.
And then from that point, I use the Notes app.
I write it down. I usually just write down a short form,
or a point form of whatever it is,
let's say I wanna talk about audio.
I'll just write audio, and then over time,
over a couple days or a couple weeks,
depending on the inspiration
and the gusto I have behind the idea,
I'll start adding point forms all right.
How to add sound into your natural environment
to enhance the video.
And I'll write that down as a note,
and maybe on top of that I'll write, how to fake sound.
And then I'll elaborate on that,
and I'll write, maybe use other sounds
that aren't what you think you're hearing,
and incorporate that into the list.
Then suddenly the list gets longer and longer and longer.
And now I have a title, which is Audio,
and then I have all these point forms I like about audio.
Then I sit down, I set up this rig,
and then I start talking about audio
and I just go through my points.
And that's essentially how I start a tutorial
or something like that.
Now when it's a vlog, that's totally different.
It really depends on what you're doing that day,
or it depends on the story you wanna tell,
or how you want to portray what you've done,
or what you're up to, what you're about to do,
or where you're about to go.
So the vlogs are a little bit easier,
but they both have different challenges.
Tutorials are hard because
there's a lot of information that goes into it.
You want to make sure you're presenting it well,
and the facts are checked,
and you deliver a nice sound product.
But with vlogs, it's kind of the same thing.
You want to make sure the vlog is good but,
they're almost more work because
there's just so much more editing involved,
and multiple music tracks,
and you want to keep that upbeat pace,
and you want to tell a good story,
and want to get some kind of meaning,
or you wanna make it mean something
to the people who are watching.
I mean there's a lot that goes into these videos
that a lot of people don't get to see
the behind the scenes of.
They just see the finished product.
They never see me moving the camera
from over there to over here which took half an hour.
And then they don't see the fact
that maybe the audio wasn't recording properly
and I had to redo the tutorial,
or I had to buy a new part so that I could
mount this screen to my camera
so I could continue seeing what I'm doing
because maybe the mount I had didn't work.
So there's a lot of little things
that go into the technical aspect:
the gear, the location, the setup, the process, the edit.
And the edit is a whole other beast.
At this point, I usually take a break.
And I open some mail.
"Peter, You're videos have been super inspiring
"and have helped me a ton
"to start my new style for making videos."
Anthony, thanks dude, appreciate the java.
These are fun bags, look at this.
Whoohoo. Thank You.
That's, I guess I should say another essential part
of my video making process is making coffee, what!
How did I almost forget that.
Ooh, I also opened this earlier and I forgot to show it.
It's super cool though, hang on.
Ah, I'm back.
It's a night light, it has different LED colored settings.
And you can use it when it's not plugged in,
and when it's plugged in,
and it glows all these different colors and it has an app.
And it's called Aumi.
Super, super cool night light.
This is the night light of all night lights.
I'm gonna put this in my daughter's room but, boof,
it might just end up in mine.
So thank you to the guys that sent me this.
I think they're local too, which is awesome.
So that's it for me guys.
I hope you guys enjoyed the tour.
A little bit of insight
into what goes into making these videos.
A little BTS action to the gear
and the blood, sweat, and tears
that goes into each and every video.
Hit that like button if you liked this.
Smash it if you so desire, I won't hold it against you.
Subscribe if you aren't already, and, and,
I will see you in the next video.
Which, by the way, we've got several planned for this week.
PS, we're gonna do the giveaway,
the 500K camera giveaway for the ADD
on Thursday, Friday at the latest.
I promise it'll be happening this week.
So if you haven't already, head over there,
follow the rules in the description,
and get yourself a chance to win that camera.
We're probably gonna just pick a comment at random
because there's, like a lot, there's so many comments.
It might just be a random picker, but I ...
What do I know, hahaha.
Links are somewhere to be had, to be seen,
to be, just stop, goodbye.
Now this Rubik's Cube is funny you guys.
I solved it in the how to do a time lapse video,
and some of you were like, yeah, that's so cool,
you can do it in like a minute.
And then the other half of you were like,
a minute, you suck, that's like the worst time ever.
So, to the haters who think a minute is too long,
watch this, so we'll take that,
and we'll do it in what?
I don't know, a second to two seconds.
Eat it.