Welcome back my friends to another weekly behind the scenes recap as I wander seemingly endlessly across the globe. In case you forgot, I’m Rick and you actually asked for this fine newsletter to drop into your mailbox. 🙂
For those who are not on the video tier, I do a monthly behind the scenes video which is a whole lot like these, only a little deeper and of course … visual. And the next video is going to be a recap of the adventures South Of The Border. Why? Because it’s almost over.
Next week I’ll be standing in my favorite city, Barcelona. And I want the next BTS video to look back at these past two months in Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico. And I suppose … the US too. Actually, the whole adventure started there, in Virginia. Why? Because of this guy!
This is my new (and first!) grandson Liam. Just thought I’d share something more than exotic food and places. Isn’t he just the cutest you’ve ever seen? (Of course I might be biased, LOL!).
So what’s it like making videos? Isn’t the life of an “Influencer” just the greatest? Well, last night we went to the store to shop for produce after we picked up the laundry. When you live in other people’s apartments you don’t always have a washing machine. And don’t even get me started on the quality of the cookware. (Doesn’t anyone appreciate decent pans??). Life on the road is basically like life at home, only you don’t know where anything is. Or if it even exists in your apartment.
We shop, cook, and do all of the normal daily things that everyone does. We just do it in a different place every few weeks. I’d say that easily 80% of my time is spent just as I would in Miami. But that 20% is … well, it’s special.
When you’re in a new (to you) spot, every street newly walked is a chance to see something grand. Day trips and adventures are just waiting to pack in. And … I get to annoy Nikki with my camera setups. LOL! I actually spend more time planning a video than I do shooting it. Take for instance the one I recently released on Uxmal. I had a wonderfully touching script that revealed some deep and hurtful secrets about me, and how exploring pyramids was going to help heal old wounds. And then the people at the ruins told me I wasn’t allowed to film there. A bit of a tight spot, right?
Anyway, I made it into a different video. But that brings me to one last point of this thread … making videos. That one was 8:12 minutes in length. You wanna know what went into it?
3 Hours – Scripting and generating ideas. Refining. Creating a title and a thumbnail that would gather enough attention to get folks to click.
9 Hours – Actually on location (and yes I enjoyed it!) filming.
7 Hours – Here’s the fun one, it took me seven hours to edit that footage into a video!
1 Hour – To upload and release. Yes, the internet is kinda crappy here.
2 Hours – Analyzing metrics about performance, answering comments, trying to learn from the experience how to make the next video better.
So, twenty-two hours to make an 8:12 video. That’s … (sounds of fingers being counted, and also toes) … 2.8 hours spent for every single minute of video! But, it’s so worth it. I get to experience things unusual and grand … and also feed an activity that I absolutely love. Making videos brings me a lot of joy. Sitting down and editing a video for seven solid hours (and never stopping except to pee) actually is a highlight of my week. So there ya go, what making videos is really like.
I’m going to keep this one short because with one week left here in Mexico, I’ve got so much to do. In fact, the title of the next video is “IS THIS THE WAY IT ENDS? • (Spoiler: Yes … But Also No)” and should be out anytime now. It’s going to have so much stuff packed into a single … it’s going to be a loooong edit. LOL!
With that, check out the playlist shown below. It’s everything here south of the border. And don’t worry, we will be back here in Central and South America. There is just too much left to see and do!
RICK
🎬 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfX3c8A5hKPHpUSVKobShld-8xM-ZqqfT
OUR CURRENT SITUATION: WANDERING SOUTH OF THE BORDER