Okay, so some of you know I've been blogging for awhile, but I just started a vlog so I thought I'd share the first one here. I am not an expert, I am not a coach, and most people have been playing much longer than me. But I am crazy passionate and spend most of my time playing, training or thinking about badminton and I've always wanted to watch a vlog about a normal middle-aged adult just trying to improve their badminton and liv a badminton life. I haven't been able to find someone doing that consistently so I decided to do it myself. (Although now that it has come to it I suddenly feel very shy about the video!) Anyway, I'll be updating it weekly and if you like or subscribe to my channel I'd really appreciate it. (Please excuse the gum chewing in the first vlog. I won't do it again, haha)
That was a pretty good video, thanks for sharing your badminton experience in China. It's definitely going to be an one of a kind vlog on youtube I'm sure Btw, just a little thing but in between your narration the music is a bit loud
Sorry about the loud music! I'll pay more attention to it next time. I've got to work on the sound in general as I had to pump up my voice in some clips and pump it down in others. My next one I was too far away from the camera so I couldn't use the headphones so that sound is a little hard to hear. I need a mic I think, or wireless headphones. But the technical stuff will come with practice, give me a few months, haha. But hopefully the content is still interesting regardless! And I don't think I can separate Chinese culture from badminton but I will make sure to point it out so you notice it! And thank you guys for watching and thanks to anyone who subsribes to my channel. Youtube has some strict rules and you need 1000 subscribers before they let you do thing (like make a specific URL and have links in your video) so that's my goal now.
Good stuff. I would like to see a mixture of conversations in between with some of the people in Mandarin. Like the guy who cooks, just ask him a few questions and subtitle in English and Chinese. I don't know how much work it is to add the extra subtitles but you could add both languages subtitles all the way through and get a few more subscribers that way. Normal people talking colloquial Chinese is good. Have you seen a vlog by "Food ranger" - it was maddening because you can only hear his voice clearly and the other people can't be heard. Just hearing one person's voice detracts from the video. I agree the music is a bit too loud but it's a learning experience.
Yeah, the first one was just an intro so I wanted it to be brief. Other people have been slowly introduced and will be "regulars" and I'm sure chat plenty. Subtitling is turning out to be kinda a pain. Not because it's hard literally, but more like I need to interpret what people say, not just directly translate it! Haha. Didn't expect that. And I think I'll leave it at just English for now. I am purposely putting this just on youtube, which is blocked for most Chinese badminton people, just so I feel a but more free to speak my mind and opinion. I don't want to embarrass anyone or anything, but I want to express my real feelings so having that barrier makes me feel a bit more free as I know most of my Chinese friends will never see the videos. Just released the 6th vlog about my training. Feel free to laugh at my awkward training day (but also feel free to drool at the yummy beef hotpot lunch I had with my coach after.)
very well produced videos. I have tried making (much simplier) videos and appreciate how much work it is to not only plan, produce, edit and then publish videos. i do have a few questions... 1. other than badminton, what do you do? while it would be nice but I don't think anyone can sustain 9-5 badminton every day. 2. in related note, how do you make a living? i understand this is sensitive question so feel free to ignore. as while many of us would love to do what we love to do full time, it is not the most financially feasible thing unless we are truly professional. 3. what software/hardware do you use to make these videos? love it. keep them coming!
I don't know all the details but she teaches English as her day job I know this from reading her blog (I think..).
haha, I do have a real job as a teacher at a university in China. Luckily a full time teacher consists of 12 hours a week (6 classes) so that's why I have a lot of free time. My salary is quite low (actually even in china people are always surprised by how little I make) but I get a free place to live, and paid utilities, so I don't have much to spend my money on besides food which is very cheap in china. Badminton is my biggest expense but, again, quite cheap. My club fees are 300 rmb a month ($45) and include shuttles and unlimited play for the entire month (another advantage of my coach owning his own gym, I can take total advantage of that by going anytime. I don't need to wait for club members or friends, I can just go when I'm free and he will find people for me to play with because he knows everyone). I pay for training and drinks but remember a bottle of water in china is like, .30 US cents, haha. So pretty cheap even with a low salary. Basically I got this awesome job so I could have more free time to pursue what I wanted to in life. Never cared much about money, much to my parents chargrin, haha. So when I started playing badminton I had already been teaching for 6 years already in China so I was lucky to have the lifestyle to allow me freedom to really go for it. And thank you!
yeah! Although if you don't have a passion you can really drown in this type of job. Many foreigners who teach English kinda go down the "party and sleep with anything that moves" route just because they have the time and it's the path of least resistance. Luckily I have writing and badminton to keep me on the straight path. Sorry, I forgot the answer this one! I just film on my iphone and use imovie on my phone and mac to edit. All the free software. And thanks for the kind words everyone!!Thanks for watching! It's very exciting for me, hahaha. I update twice a week on mondays and fridays, so keep checking!
