The recent lack of content is due to a much-needed adjustment period, forced by a tighter work schedule I took up earlier this year. While it has solved 99% of my financial woes, it also pushed everything else to the wayside. This coincided with finally getting a fiber optic connection, which was the last thing that could help me push videos out faster. But while I struggle to find the time to make more videos, I decided to do my own show, and I got mixed results so far.
I came up with the AVDRshow—a weekly (or so) live show/podcast wherein I talk about whatever I could talk about. I went into it with much gusto, only to fizzle out due to procrastination and lack of motivation due to various reasons. I was also beset with some decision paralysis, trying to come up with a solution to what looked like a branding problem with the breadth of topics I wanted to present and the need to reel everything in.
The Show and the Struggle
The AVDRshow is a stupidly-named show wherein I can just talk about a myriad of topics I had even just an inkling of knowledge in. I always wanted to do commentary videos, but having a show format would bring structure. However, I ended up with this mess—three show ideas I’m struggling to pull off.
It became so as it soon became obvious that I kept going back to three main topics—gaming, combat sports, and myself. As usual, when I start questioning myself, I completely stop whatever I’m doing and brood on it until I come up with a solution.
Lack of spare time due to my current work is the main obstacle. I also have a side gig now as the (former) ring announcer and play-by-play commentator of Manila Wrestling Federation, which takes time away from my formerly quiet weekends.
Mind you, these are good problems to have. I’m actually busier than ever, which I should be thankful for. However, my mind always goes back to doing my own thing, and I haven’t been able to put much attention to what is supposed to be why I bother waking up every morning in the first place.
Of course, the job and my role in MWF are done for others, and I don’t wish to disappoint. To that end, they get prioritized and whatever spare time I have left would then be used for my own stuff. However, energy is also in short supply and those responsibilities had been ramping up.
Aside from the shows, I also still wanted to fulfill my new year’s resolution of making more videos for the YouTube channel. That’s why I took the job offer in the first place—to fund that endeavor. To not find a way to have more time after work for my own content creation would make it self-defeating.
The Solution
I realized it’s mostly a time management issue, which makes it a multi-headed hydra of a problem. If I could finish work more quickly and have no other distractions, I should be able to work on my own stuff for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, the MWF stuff only happens on some weekends anyway, so it’s not a distraction at all—actually more of a respite.
Seems rather simple, but it gets complicated as the nature of freelance work is not restricted by the usual 9-5 time frame. It’s something I have to contend with on my own.
The other heads of this hydra are how the show is shot and edited. I realized I can’t just do it live and be done with it as my pedantry compels me to edit everything I shoot. While you may think it’s a needless concern, video editing is a part of my skill set I’m hard-pressed to never ignore, so I definitely have to do it all the hard way.
However, being able to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible is part of the deal, so I’ve decided to not live stream shows anymore and record them instead. I first figured that I could shoot them as if I’m doing them live to minimize editing, but not having either a teleprompter or a reliable memory (at this point) makes for an erratic presentation that necessitates editing.
I’ve now reverted to what I know best, which is just a podcast-style recording where I just have the camera recording with no scene switching, then just add everything else in editing. That’s what I’m trying right now, and it’ll boil down to practice in order to become efficient at it.
Since I’ve always wanted to acquire the video ninja powers of wedding videographers who do same-day edits on the regular. MWF has a crew who do just that for a living, so I get to watch them do their thing and be inspired as well.
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