I brought Alan Lastufka (of FiveAwesomeGuys & fallofautumndistro) and Micheal W. Dean’s book – YouTube: An Insider’s Guide To Climbing The Charts.
I haven’t yet finished reading it, I am just over a quarter way through it, but it is simply brilliant.
It isn’t how it sounds just a book about getting high on YouTube, it is SO much more, and the title really doesn’t give it justice.
Alan in particular describes many aspects of how to make good video, often to a cinematic level, however unlike most, it is broken down step by step and designed for noobs (me) and provides good alternatives for ALL types of users, from those using crappy web cams to those who can afford the high-tech high-res DV mini cams.
I can honestly say i am reading this cover to cover, and this will most probably be one of the best non-fiction books i have ever brought, and i am sure this will most definitely help and guide me to making better good videos for YouTube, and may just help me to create awesome videos for FiveAwesomeWebGeeks.
This does make me think though, why can’t they teach like this in college? When i started college i also started Media Studies, i attended 2 lessons, and decided it didn’t suit me.
This was mainly because of how it was taught, it seems your taught to pass the course, or how to do it this exact way, which shouldn’t be how media and creative subjects should be taught. For instance Alan describes different camera angles and styles and how to structure the story/video, just these few pages taught me more than the two lessons i did which was supposed to be teaching me just about camera angles and styles.
This book had really made me reconsider my view on getting into media and media production, and i think it could be for me if i can find the right way to learn and develop what i need to; I might have found the base or stepping stone with this book, and of course, YouTube.
I am rambling a little here, but i just wanted to quickly share this thought.
PS. Got rid of most of the Malware, was a pain but i think i got rid of it all 🙂
Edit:
Just thought i would add a comment about this. I LOVE the Internet.
This post has been online for around 4 hours (at time of editing) it is already on the second page of google for the title of the book (17th result) AND Alan has made a comment on my YouTube about it. I mean just WOW! lol. Thanks Alan 😉
Edit 2:Â 7th Jan @ 00:37 it’s now 12th place on Google, haha onwards and upwards! first page soon!
Thanks man!
They don’t teach things like this in college because they don’t let self-taught high school dropouts like me teach in college!
They don’t teach things like this in college because they would rather let people with only theoretical (and usually old) experience teach, rather than hiring people who DO it, do it well, and do it now, like Alan.
Anyway, here’s my post on how I got rid of crap in Vista (which I finally moved over to yesterday):
http://www.stinkfight.com/2009/01/10/the-right-tools-for-the-job/
MWD