YouTuber in South Africa Things You need to know

I just started a YouTube channel literally 2 weeks ago, and here is some of the things I have already learned.

Disclaimer: This is just my experience and opinion, I have only been doing this for 2 weeks so bear with me.

Affiliated Links Are Not As Difficult As You Think.

When I started out 2 weeks ago, I thought that affiliated links are only available for big YouTubers with thousands of subscribers. However on my first video I contacted the online shop where I buy from(Mantality “SA’s #1 online Store for men”) just to ask if I can mention their store, and they immediately replied and said sure and if I want to I can even join their affiliated program.

http://www.mantality.co.za

This is great for me starting out, because as they mentioned in an email to me, is that if I grow my channel and produce good content regularly they might be willing to send me products at discount or even more maybe one day or free.

Video Editing Is Difficult

This should not have been such a big surprise to me but it still was. At first your video editing is going to take you longer than shooting the video did.

My first 2 videos took me about 1 week each, this was because I am still experimenting with new video editing software and finding my own style not to mention creating intro’s, outro’s and color grading (Who could forget the color grading).

Choosing the software.

As mentioned I am experimenting with software, and in my opinion I have found 2 that I think I am going to stick with. Wondershare Filmora and Adobe After Effects.

Wondershare Filmora

1. Everything is just drag and drop.
2. It’s small to download and install.
3. Cheap license around R 800 for a lifetime licence (Witch I bought)
4. Its powerful, It can handle lets say 1080 video and not absolutely kill your PC in the process. (Have Not Tried 4K)
5. Really Easy Audio editing and cutting in your videos.

Disadvantages

1. Trial does export with watermark.
2. Does not have the powerful effects as Adobe After Effects.
3. Physical video editing such as slowing down and speeding up footage is a lot more controllable in After Effects with key frames.

Adobe After Effects.

There is a lot to be said about after effects, however I feel that here is not the place. There is a humongous amount of reviews and tutorials on After Effects and since I am just using the trial for now while testing it out, my opinion would not be at its fullest. (PS: After Effects is great though, if you get the gist of it).

Equipment

Aaa Yes my biggest enemy at the moment. Getting the right equipment can be really challenging. Photography and Video equipment in South Africa is really really expensive and can get anyone down that is looking for the right equipment when starting out.

Good news though is that you can get away with the “cheap” stuff. And by “cheap” I mean your phone camera is really great and powerful. There are inexpensive lenses you can buy for about 100 bucks, I would recommend wide angle for videos.

Video footage can be really boosted and altered in your video editing software, After Effects does a great job at color grading your footage and can even stabilize shaky footage making you an instant pro (in 1 week of practicing Whooo).

As of now I am taking the Pirate approach to equipment Arrrrr, and by that I mean I am borrowing and stealing equipment wherever I can. (Just kidding not really stealing) #JackBorrow.

I am currently shooting with my photography girlfriend’s Cannon 700D, and it is really amazing, it has everything you need when starting out… 1080 footage, 24fps for that cinematic look, as well as a flippy screen if you want to vlog #ShotsFiredSONY. And Most importantly you can get the Cannon 700D with a few lenses for between R 7000 and R 9000 and even lower if you go second hand.

This was just a first blog about the things I have experienced so far, and will wright more as I go along and experience new things. So let me know if you like this and would like more of it, maybe more in depth look into software and equipment.

Here is my channel if you would like to see what I have done so far.

In the next blog I will take a look at…

1. Setting up your brand for YouTube.
2. Things to watch out for.
3. Where to get equipment on the cheap.
4. Get help with video editing and things to help you go faster, like “Luts” and plugins.