maandag 18 augustus 2014

I will be studying abroad... starting tomorrow!

Tomorrow at 9.50 AM I'll be hopping on a plane to southern France. Your first guess will be that I am simply going on a holiday just before summer's end. "Great, now we can wait a little longer for Lux' next Walkthrough video." Perhaps so, but I will be bringing most of my recording gear with me. Normally I'm not the type to bring laptops and video game consoles with me so I can do something in my hotel room late at night. But if I'm going to stay in that 'hotel room' for 4~5 months, then maybe that's not a bad idea...

Yes, this year I will be staying in France for 4~5 months to participate in a Master's Programme in Management of IT. This programme is coordinated and hosted by three European universities located in France, Finland and The Netherlands. One of the reasons why video production over at the Rayque3 Channel was at a low level was simply because of the huge amount of paperwork and preparation behind the scenes. I will be bringing my gear with me, so once I'm used to the new lecture schedules and lifestyle in France, I should be OK to pinpoint a recording/editing day.

And you can probably guess it: after my stay in France I will have to move to Finland next, again for another 4~5 months. Therefore I should be back in Holland next year when summer starts again. This Master's Programme is an unique opportunity to build a strong CV and possibly a well-promising future. That last bit will count for our YouTube Channel too.

dinsdag 22 juli 2014

Let's talk about how poor I am at scheduling.

I don't blog. Well, I don't blog in a proper manner. My old blog posts were like Tweets, little mysteries of my life events which were unrelated to any of the things that connects me with YouTube, video making, gaming or other hobbies. I mean, c'mon, who wants to figure out the fact I was talking about cleaning my ears and basic accounting formulas? Wait, you never read those posts from 2011, now did you?

But I guess it's time to start writing down some things on this (revamped) blog because of the fact I'm inconsistent. Maybe not much in the quality of my videos, but timing. You know how they say people 'won't promise you anything'? Maybe won't is not the right word, does can't fit better? I'm doubting. In any case, a promise is something preferably avoided. That's why I never have deadlines on when the next video comes... that isn't entirely true though. Take a look at this snapshot of an old outro file I created:
Outro.wmv. This was made for the first Croc 2 Walkthrough Series part. 
Remember, this was November 2012 when the Rayque3 Channel had less than 400 subscribers. When was this file created? November 4th, according to the file's details. Seems like a good deal for those 400 people. Also seems easy enough, so I thought. So easy that I made a schedule of running three shows at once on a weekly basis. This next bit is copied from a old Word document:
Rayque3 Schedule Upload Times:
November 5-6th: [Let’s Play] Croc 2 – Part 1: “Reliving my childhood”
Meaning: Record every Tuesday, edit every Wednesday

November 6-7th: [Let’s Play] Dead Rising 2 – Part 1: “Terror is Reality”
Meaning: Record / Edit every Wednesday, edit every Thursday

November 8-9th: Free choice à Q/A, Vlog, Thoughts, Updates
Meaning Edit every Friday/Saturday
Yes, there were plans for a Dead Rising 2 video series, but it became Borderlands 2 instead. If I look at this schedule now, I would laugh at the 'old me'. No way that I would be finishing up my Bachelor's in three years time with a schedule THAT tight. And I was not thinking of dropping from school to pursue a dream of a healthy YouTube career. So why this obsession to deliver on those days and record at that time of the day?

When I came back from the dead to make videos again, I wanted to come back in a proper way. That I wouldn't be making just five mediocre videos in an entire year. The Croc 2 Walkthrough Series was a test for me. A test to see if I was capable of bringing a high-quality edutainment walkthrough gameplay video each week while enjoying it. And yes, it worked. OK, granted there was a bit of a gap between part 9 and 10 (13 days), and then again towards part 11 (10 days).... and then again (13 days)... and then it pretty much became a trend, nevertheless, I was proud of myself. Not simply because I produced a series I was happy with, but because the working schedule worked out just fine for me: 15 videos spread over 5 months.

But if we take a look now at what I'm currently working on, the Tarzan Action Game Walkthrough Series, oh dear. 36 days between the first two parts. When is part 3 coming up? 48 days after part 2. How do I know this? Because I finally made it just a couple of hours ago when typing this post. What happened to my schedule?

Did I become one of those students that at first pass their test and afterwards don't give a sh*t about the lesson materials? Now that a bigger audience is watching, I'm reading 3,669 subscribers right now, I simply going to let them down? Do I even care anymore? Of course I do. I'm dedicated to support this YouTube channel. And I understand that consistency is appreciated when you are good at something. But scheduling is not my answer to deliver. I deliver when I feel I can. And right now, it takes me seven weeks get that feeling again.

I'll probably make a poor manager since they are supposed to be the kings of scheduling, which sucks since I am interested in becoming a Video Game Producer. So yes, 48 days later and finally, the next part is coming out. Of course, I can give excuses for that. I was busy with work. I had to study. I had exams. The World Cup was on. I was partying hard because I earned a Bachelor's Degree. So, for the people who watched both parts and are anxiously waiting for Tarzan Part 3, it's coming tomorrow. It will probably grow its popularity slowly over time. But that is OK. That means I don't have to do scheduling anymore since there won't be any hype.

That's how I like it.