Filmmaker's Transition to YouTube: A Personal Journey

Freelance filmmaker embraces YouTube's potential for creative storytelling and audience engagement in 2024.

### Why a Full-Time Filmmaker Decided to Embrace YouTube in 2024
* 📹 After years of using Vimeo and Instagram, this filmmaker decided to take YouTube more seriously due to its **broader audience and potential for independent productions**.
* 🎥 The filmmaker initially found YouTube unattractive due to its emphasis on **daily vlogs and gear reviews by non-working filmmakers**, but later discovered **high-quality content creators**.
* 🎞 A personal documentary project premiered at a film festival and on TV, but received **fewer views than expected on YouTube**, leading to doubts about the platform's suitability.
* 📈 A successful video review of the Sony Brano camera, made for YouTube in a more casual style, **boosted the filmmaker's confidence** in creating content for the platform.
* 📊 Subsequent videos, including one about Red cameras, performed well, reinforcing the decision to **continue making YouTube content**.
* 🎬 The goal is to **build an audience for future passion projects** by creating content that appeals to a **wider audience**.
* 🔍 The filmmaker's perspective on YouTube has shifted from skepticism to seeing it as a **viable platform for sharing high-quality, independent film projects**.

I think one of the things that had turned me off on the filmmaking side of things is a lot of those people not really being working filmmakers day in, day out, which came across as a bit of a kind of conflict of interest to me. If YouTube was 100% daily vlogs, funny videos, the modern version of reality TV essentially, it was only that. I wouldn't use it. So I made that video, I was shitting myself putting it out there to be honest. I thought I was going to get written off by every person I know. I think when I started looking at jumping over to YouTube, I realised that it had now grown to the size where it's big enough that it has something for everyone a lot more than it did in the past. I think there's a lot of opportunities on this platform now for independent productions. So this video's going to be about why me, as a working full-time freelance filmmaker.

decided to jump on making YouTube videos in 2024. I'm sure the average person would just assume I would have been posting to YouTube for way longer than that. So I'm going to run through my history of posting videos online and why it was this year that made me decide to, I guess, start taking YouTube a little bit more seriously and seeing how it can work for me. The first video platform I remember using and the one I basically used up until pretty recently was Vimeo. Vimeo was a really great community for action sport filmmakers and little documentaries, things like that, especially when cameras like the 5D Mark II started coming out that offered a bit more cinematic capabilities. I guess Vimeo just seemed like the place at the time where people who were more filmmakers as opposed to bloggers or average people posting funny videos, things like that, would post their work. And it had a really good community and also it

seemed like the compression was a lot better. Your videos always seem to look a lot nicer. And so I was using that for quite a long time. Earlier on in the Vimeo days, you know, your videos could get picked up by blogs and Tumblr and platforms like that and get out to a pretty good audience. And I feel like that kind of thing really started to drop off around, you know, 2015 or so right through that kind of period. And so for me, I guess Vimeo lost its attraction a bit and was more so just a useful site to put my own work on, to put on my website, share around things like that. So I was using it for work, but not really in a community kind of sense. [MUSIC] You've changed things. [MUSIC] Forever. [MUSIC] They're not going back. So one of my friends, I went to uni with Keshen, was

making stop animation Lego videos at the time for YouTube. He made a recreation of the Batman Dark Knight trailer in Lego. [MUSIC] And it blew up. And he was the first person I ever heard about making money off YouTube and achieving a bit of success off the platform. But at the time, for the types of films I like to make, it just didn't seem like the bright platform for me. I found Vimeo was just a better community for the types of videos I liked making at the time. One thing that was always pretty popular on Vimeo was the staff pick. They had a team that would curate and pick videos to have that badge and it'd end up in a staff pick section. And basically anything that got a staff pick would end up getting a lot of views. And so it was a pretty nice little, I guess, accolade to have on your work. And I think that definitely kept a lot of people using the platform over the years.

But I don't know. It gets to a point where, look, they're pretty hard to get. I never got one. I won't lie, I'd love to. But it's not enough to keep me posting to a platform where I feel the community's just not there anymore. Back in 2009, early in my career, I had an opportunity to make a music video for Parkway Drive. And that went nuts on YouTube. It got millions and millions of views. But like the example with my friend Keshin, I didn't think that my work would have the same kind of, I guess, mainstream appeal. Instagram started offering video capabilities, and that became my platform of choice. I find it works really good for the type of work I do, for networking with other cinematographers, other filmmakers, people in the industry. But also clients. I would say I think I've got a lot of work through Instagram because what I do is visual.

Instagram makes a lot of sense. Although I love using it, I think it's got to a stage where I don't see a lot of upside coming from it. You know, I'm going to keep posting my work the same way I have been for the last five years or so. And I don't see it growing too much. I like using it. But if I make a bit of a longer video, for example, it's not the platform of choice for it. And it's consumed, I'd say almost 100 percent on the phone as well and doesn't have the best functionality, for example, for playing back full-screen videos and things like that. So when I make something that isn't just a fun 60-second edit, I don't really think Instagram is the right place for it. I think when I started looking at jumping over to YouTube, I realized that it had now grown to the size where it's big enough that it has

something for everyone a lot more than it did in the past. Everyone knows the kind of stats of YouTube's the second biggest search engine in the world and things like that. But for me as a filmmaker, I want to be putting my work out there where there still are people striving to make higher quality work and telling good stories. If YouTube was 100 percent daily vlogs, funny videos, the modern version of reality TV, essentially, if it was only that, I wouldn't use it because I don't think what I do and that style of film really go together. And I should also say that I think one of the things that had turned me off on the filmmaking side of things is this overemphasis on all filmmaking content having to be gear reviews. And also a lot of those people not really being working filmmakers day in, day out, which came across as a bit of a kind of conflict of interest to me.

It's kind of like I think you should be reviewing things from a perspective of how is this going to perform out in the field? How is this as an investment as opposed to just being a professional reviewer? And look, I'm not here saying that you shouldn't be doing that. Everyone's voice is valid. I think anyone should be able to make whatever video and put out whatever video they want. But I think seeing that at first turned me off YouTube, but then I started to embrace it as, okay, well, what I need to do is try to do something different. Try to do it from a working professional's perspective. And once I started looking around, I started to come across a lot of quality channels, people who obviously are amazing filmmakers, DOPs, etc. And that kind of made me be open to using YouTube as a platform a little bit more. So I put on a pair of goggles one day, put my head underwater within three minutes.

I'd found a chunk of gold, and my friend who was with me couldn't get back to the car quick enough to get a pair of goggles too. And ever since then, it's just been a full-on obsession. Last year, I made a short personal documentary project called Blue and Gold. And that premiered at the Byron Bay Film Festival here in Australia. This year, it's going to be available on SBS on Demand, so on TV here in Australia. And when I made that, I thought, okay, this is a perfect chance to test the waters with YouTube. We'll have an in-person premiere, watch it on the big screen with my friends and family, which is always the most rewarding way to view your work. And then I will release it on my YouTube, naively probably expecting or hoping that it would do well, because I was pretty proud of it. And I dropped the doco on YouTube.

It gets way less views than I was expecting. And, you know, of course, you don't want to get too caught up in those kinds of metrics, but it can still be a little bit disheartening for when you make something that you're pretty proud of. So I think I went back to the line of thought of, okay, well, maybe YouTube isn't for me. So what made me bite the bullet and decide to start making more videos specifically for YouTube? Well, I mean, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I try to be up on what's going on in the world and in media advertising, etc. And of course, it doesn't take a genius to see that YouTube's not going anywhere and it's only getting bigger. And in recent times, I've found myself watching it a lot more. I'm watching gear reviews. I'm watching conversations about filmmaking, career things.

And I think all my friends are as well. Last year, a project came up where I had the opportunity to shoot it on the Sony Brano, a camera that had only just been released, that I'd been wanting to use myself. I thought, okay, this is it. This is a great chance to make a video that I'm going to make it more for the platform, more in the style of a YouTube video, but really try to put my own authentic takes on how the camera would go as an investment for someone like me. Not just about the images and the tech things like platforms like CVP and other review sites do so well. Mine would be more from a practical working perspective. And so I made that video. I was shitting myself putting it out there, to be honest. I thought I was going to get written off by every person I know. Thought I'd walk out the door and pretty much cop.

There's that fuckwit that just put his head on camera, you know, but I didn't. The feedback was really positive. And, you know, thank you to anyone who did give me positive feedback on that because, yeah, it was not easy putting my head on camera. And that video did so much better than my short documentary I'd done the year before. Short doco having way higher production value, you know, a lot harder to make. I was way prouder of the end result, but it just made me see that you've got to be adaptable and make things for the platform to a degree, you know, while still trying to have your own flavor and your own personality come through in the work. You know, you don't want to make something purely for analytics or things like that. But that video to me was what I needed to give me the confidence to say, okay, I do have something to offer here.

I can make videos that people will actually want to watch on this platform. So, that video gave me the confidence to keep doing more. My next one, I talked about red cameras and what my experiences had been like as a long-term user. That did even better than the first one. And for, you know, videos early on in my channel, they did way better than I ever expected them to. You know, everyone kind of says your videos will get no hits in the first year, and both of those did really well and pepped up the confidence a little bit more again. Videos following that haven't done so well, to be honest, but I'm sticking with it and trying not to get too caught up in those analytics. And yeah, I'm learning as I go as well. During this period of trying to decide whether YouTube was right for me, I came across a lot of, I guess, positive examples of people that were making really high

quality work for YouTube that made me think, okay, this isn't just for bloggers trying to convince you to buy the latest bit of gear, even though they're not making money off that themselves in real life. I saw people doing some really cool stuff. A guy called Flo, who runs the channel of two lands, put out a documentary about his grandfather, a 90-year cyclist. It did really well. That's great to see. It's not just the latest Gerald Undone gear review or CVP or any of these other kind of more gear-specific videos that are doing well. There is a chance for a short documentary to go well also, which is what I love to make. And ultimately, what I want out of this channel, the reason I want to build it up, is so that when I do make those passion projects, the docos that I think have come up really well and projects that I put a lot of effort into and that might be

special to me for whatever reason. I just want them to have an audience. And I know to get that audience, I have to build it up by making some content that people actually want to watch. And so it's kind of changed my mindset on how to approach YouTube. I heard Mr. Beast in a recent interview say he grew up just watching YouTube. Well, I'm the polar opposite of that.

Filmmakers on YouTube in 2024: Why Now?

Caleb Graham Films

Transitioning to YouTube: A Filmmaker's Journey

The filmmaker was initially turned off by the YouTube community, which seemed to lack genuine working filmmakers.

They made the decision to jump to YouTube in 2024, recognizing the platform's growth and opportunities for independent productions.

Before that, they primarily used Vimeo, which had a strong community for action sport filmmakers and documentaries, but lost its attraction over time.

The Journey of Making Videos: From Lego Stop Animation to Instagram

The narrator started by making Lego stop animation videos for YouTube, inspired by a friend's success.

They found Vimeo's staff picks to be a valuable accolade but eventually moved to Instagram for networking and client work.

Despite enjoying Instagram, they feel it no longer offers significant growth and are considering a transition back to YouTube, which has now grown significantly.

The filmmaker initially struggled with YouTube's focus on daily vlogs and gear reviews, feeling it didn't align with their work.

However, they eventually embraced the platform, seeking out quality channels and aiming to offer a professional perspective.

After making a personal documentary, they decided to test the waters with YouTube, hoping for a successful release.

The author's initial videos received fewer views than expected, leading to doubts about using the platform.

However, after recognizing YouTube's growing influence and watching more content, they decided to create videos in a style that suited the platform.

A project opportunity with a new camera led to a successful video that boosted the author's confidence and highlighted the importance of being adaptable while maintaining their own personality in the work.

Building Confidence and Finding Purpose on YouTube

The creator's early videos on red cameras performed better than expected, boosting their confidence.

They were inspired by others making high-quality content on the platform, including a successful documentary about a 90-year-old cyclist.

The creator's goal is to build an audience for their passion projects and impactful documentaries by initially making content that people want to watch.