Blimey Cow's 'The Truth about Youth Group'

Make sure to read part one here, part two here and part three here!

Check out The Truth about Youth Group!

Here is the finished product! We hope you enjoy it, and had fun reading about the days of work that go into a video that doesn't even clock in at three minutes in length. It's crazy, hectic, and stressful... but it's a ton of fun.

Our thanks go out to Tyler Snell for allowing us to take over her blog for the weekend. We've had a ton of fun and hope to hang around Social Spaz again sometime. God bless you all!

Guest Blog Weekend: Blimey Cow Part 3!

Make sure to read part one here and then part two here!

POST-PRODUCTION

Whew! I just hit "render," and this week's Messy Monday video is DONE!

Editing all the footage is honestly probably the toughest part of the whole process. It's definitely the most time consuming. I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn that for just a short two and a half minute video (Like this week's episode), it normally takes somewhere between 4-6 hours to edit.

Culling through all the footage, picking out the best takes, and placing them in order in the timeline takes a good couple of hours at the least. When that is finished, I have a workable "first cut" that will never see the light of day. It exists for maybe 30 minutes while I give my mind a break, so that I can return and objectively look at what I have so far, and what additional cuts I need to make or alternate takes I need to insert. Once I've made those new changes, the second cut is starting to look more like the final product that you see on YouTube. Still not quite there, but we're getting close.

At this point, I usually let my wife look at it and ask her if there are any flow or mood problems that she sees. I ask her questions like, "Does Jordan's vocal inflection or tone shift too dramatically between these two lines? Does anything look to abrupt? Are there any jokes that just aren't landing like we wanted them to?"

Honestly probably the hardest part is parting with jokes that just didn't work. I'd say on average, from first cut to final product, I've shaved off about 45 seconds to a minute of video. A lot of times it's just because the good take we got just doesn't work with the rest of the video, or is too abrupt, or just doesn't sound right with the rest of his thought. The biggest lesson I'm learning about editing while doing this every single week is to cut mercilessly. The shorter and more concise the video is, the better. Never let more than about 8 seconds go by without another laugh line.

Once all of that is done, I watch the video a few times all the way through just to make sure all the cuts are tight, so that the video flows seamlessly. And then I'm finally done. It feels good to have this done on a Sunday night! Usually we shoot the video tonight, and I wake up early in the morning on Monday to start editing. Usually by about 2-3PM the video is finally done and about ready to be posted.

Tomorrow, I'll link you guys to the finished product, entitled "Messy Mondays: The Truth about Youth Groups". We really hope you like it!

Guest Blog Weekend: Blimey Cow Part 2!

Make sure to read part one here.

PRODUCTION

Today we shot the yet-to-be-titled video. Before we got started, I printed out the script as I had it, and Jordan and I and the few others that came to watch and help with the video, brainstormed more ideas to help flesh out the whole video. By the time we were done, we'd cut some stuff I'd written yesterday, and then doubled the size of the final product. Honestly, I think it was the most fruitful writing session we've ever conducted that immediately preceded shooting.

So then we began shooting. And the thing about it is- it's hard to understand the pacing and mood until we're actually shooting. It's probably just a product of my own inadequacy, but I just have to be in the middle of actually making the video happen before I can fully understand what it needs to look like. This leads to even more changes to the script (i.e. scraping entire bits that just don't fit once we're actually shooting).

Stressful as it is to find the right mood and pacing, shooting is probably the most fun I have all week. It's just always a really good time. We do it so often now that we've gotten a really nice rhythm. And Jordan and I are able to track with each other- he knows what I'm looking for from a specific line usually without my even having to say anything.

Plus, letting Jordan loose is great too. A lot of times, we have specific lines that need to be said specific ways to set up for the next joke, but other times, I like to just let Jordan know what the basic idea for the next section is, and then hit record. Some of my favorite stuff that we get is the stuff Jordan improvises on the spot. In fact, a lot of stuff for Monday's video was my just letting Jordan run loose with an idea. The balance, I think, is key, and we're getting more comfortable with it with each passing week.

Guest Blog Weekend: Blimey Cow!

**For all of you Blimey Cow lovers, here's a recent interview with Josh (April 30, 2013 to be exact!) over at Almost There! Check it out! Go here!**

Hello, everyone! My name is Josh Taylor. My brother, Jordan, and I started an online comedic video series in the fall of 2005, which we dubbed "Blimey Cow."

We produced about a hundred videos in the first couple of years, before taking a break as I got busy with college, and Jordan got busy finishing high school- slowly coming to a halt as the years past. This last year, however, we slowly began creating new videos, and by the time September rolled around, we were back uploading a new video every Monday.

Though we do skits on occasion, our main focus is on our "Messy Monday" video series which started back in August. Every Monday, we upload a new video wherein Jordan speaks directly to the camera, while he talks about a variety of topics. Facebook , going to the movies, church... you name it.

We have had a ton of fun creating new content each week, but have found it also incredibly challenging to keep the content fresh, fun, and engaging when we are never more than a week from your next deadline.

Social Spaz has asked that that we keep a sort of journal this weekend concerning the creative process surrounding the creation of a Messy Monday video. We don't have a budget. We have a few lights, a camera, and a bedroom. It's definitely not a "professional" production, but it's a creative process we complete every single week now. Tonight, we write. Tomorrow, we shoot. Sunday, we edit.

PRE-PRODUCTION

Prep for the next Monday's video usually starts on the preceding Tuesday. My wife, Kelli, and I begin brainstorming different topics that could be covered. Throughout the week, as I have conversations with other people, ideas, one liners, or anecdotes may come to mind. I keep a big file of various punch lines on a variety of topics to be used when the week, topic, and joke are right. Lord willing, by Thursday we have decided on a topic, and at least a couple of the big laugh lines for the episode- the lines that we hope people will remember long after watching the video, and about which they will hopefully tell their friends. Usually we come up with those laugh lines first before coming to a conclusion about whether or not a topic or idea is viable. Sometimes we come up with one joke, and then make an entire video to work around that joke. I hate wasting a good joke.

The topic this week, as decided yesterday, is going to be church youth groups. I was informed then that a youth group in Clarksville, Tennessee had used one of our recent videos as part of the lesson for the evening. I posted this fun news to Blimey Cow's Facebook fan page, and then quipped, "I guess next week's video is going to be about boys and girls sitting too close to each other..."

It was meant as a joke, but the idea took flight in my head. In short order, I was writing out the beginning of this tentative script. I visited my brother at the college he is attending that afternoon and related what I had written thus far, and he and I came up with more material, which I came home and wrote up. Sharing what was done of the script with my wife later garnered even more ideas.

As it stands, the script stands at about 35% done. Depending on the week, mood, and topic, sometimes it actually helps to have some leeway concerning the content, when it comes to actually shooting the video tomorrow. Sometimes having the entire thing completely done, and then merely tweaked as we shoot, works best. And sometimes having only certain jokes and just a basic idea of the direction, content, and pacing works just as well. It really just depends. And 10+ weeks into this, I can't say that I have entirely figured out exactly how to know which is best, and when. All I know is that Monday's come really, really quickly these days... and most weeks, it feels like we escape with a solid video by the skin of our teeth.

Back to writing for now. I'll let you know how shooting went, tomorrow.