To give an explanation to why this has become inactive.... Well it's simply because I've been succeeding! Ever since I started this blog and my youtube channel, I have always said my dream is to become someone who works in the media industry.
And recently I have been working on more and more projects in Northern Ireland. My portfolio has been growing and so has my contact list. So much that I'm getting paid work!
I'm proud of what I have been able to achieve and I wouldn't have had the skills needed to get that work without my time on here and youtube.
Who knows, I may revive this blog one day. But for now it's staying inactive.
Thank you everyone who happened to watch my stuff or read my posts. I hope you enjoyed your time here and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.
Back again with another demo reel! This time for commercial productions! I've been getting a lot more voice over work now, from video games to corporate advertisements.
I have been quiet for a while on my youtube with the only video coming out recently is a small vlog on Q-con (Anime and Gaming convention).
Why is it quiet?
BECAUSE I'M MAKING FILMS!!!
Behind the scenes of all this, I have been working on mnyt projects (not only films, but as a voice over artist as well).
If you haven't notice, I hit 100 subcribers on my main channel ProfKranc! And in celebration, I have been working on my biggest project yet!
I can't tell you much (spoilers :p), but i will tell you that we see a lot more pf the characters that w have touched on briefly in my previous skit videos!
Characters such as: Carter, Carlton and Ryan! All will be reveiled in the 100 sub special:
THE BEGINNING
Not only that, but I have another video on the way! Featuring a someone who may already know :D
Can you guess who? Find out in this teaser: Coming soon......
Stay tuned to the youtube channel to watch some ProfKranc skits and vlogs! coming soon!
Well, I've been gone, but not lost!
I've been working with an animator called Thomas Farrington on a project called "Experiment IX".
When Thomas released the animatic trailer for the project, I couldn't help be interested and offered my sound design services as that seemed to be the best way to help. After that, I whipped up a quick example of what I could do using his animatic as a template and voila! He accepted my offer!
After working for a long time, it finally came out.
Thanks to Thomas for letting me help out, it was awesome :-D I hope to work with him in the future and I also hope to work on other projects like this sometime soon!
Hope you like it! Here's some special 3d character turn arounds! And if you want to look at more behind the scenes, check out Thomas' website! http://tfarrington.blogspot.co.uk/
This has been happening more and more recently, but my time has been becoming more and more filled to the brim with stuff I have to do. But its not just stuff like school work that has to be done (even though thats one of them). It also includes things like big decisions. Finally choosing which university I want to go to, following through with financial applications and all the while I’m trying to do work for people online.
I want to make films, this is something I have said many times. It’s what I breath for; to make media. And as much as these will help me do this, I would still like the freedom of being able to do what I want. Being able to make my own projects while still having time to relax and just take a break. The freedom of being a teenager.
But the more time passes, the more I feel that this freedom is passing away. Its leaving my heart and a hole remains. It feels like I’m losing a bit of myself, a bit of my spirit and wonder of being young.
I know, I know, what first world problems. And the worst thing is that I’m 18, turning 19 soon. Its…. troubling.
I just can’t get rid of this fleeting feeling. I need to work on something, get my mind off things. Or maybe I should get the sleep I need rather than blogging XD
Damn this fleeting feeling. And damn the fact I’m feeling this at goddam 18!!
.
.
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To lighten the mood, here is a super goddam cute sloth making cute noises :-)
I've been doing a lot of work for other people nowadays. From voice acting, to sound design. Everything has been going to other peoples projects. And as much as I love contributing to other peoples work rather than all the work stemming from me, I'm beginning to get a bit nervous about where this will take me.
I want to do some of my own projects, but its a matter of that I'm to busy. That and the projects are rather big. Its not like easier to make videos like "Package" which is completely self produced. I'm talking about proper cinematic looking pieces.
I don't know, I guess I need to try and set aside some time to make my own projects rather than just scripting them and then working for other people.
But that's not to say I'm not enjoying working for other people. In fact, here are a few projects I'm working on at the moment with other people. Only a few, but check them out:
I've done another Rap Battle for SethHeart. It came out really well and he really stepped up his editing from his previous video. I'm both the gods btw:
Doing sound design for this guys full trailer. Here's the animatic. Awesome project: Experiment IX
Here's another project I'm doing sound design for. You can see the trailer here: http://goo.gl/eYmW9S
Before I give you the list I have complied of bountiful recourses for Royalty Free music that are both free and some not (Labelled so you know which is which), I should probably promote where I originally posted all of this information.
Out there in the cold dark of the internet, there is a place where Youtubers reside. Its a forum called:
Yttalk is a truly awesome place for youtubers to connect, promote and help each other. Its because of this place that I have seen more growth these past two months than I have before. Sure I'm still only on 85 subs, but it has grown much faster than before.
Anyway. Because there wasn't a resource compiling the places where you could get royalty free music that you can then monetise in your videos, I decided to write one up.
I just wanted to say if you are interested in connecting with other Youtubers and maybe even getting help and advise on your channel, that's the place to go.
BUT! In any case, below is a list of websites I have compiled in which you can get Royalty Free music from in which you can use in your videos for monetisation and even short films, features, radio, etc.
I ask that you read the terms and conditions on the websites to confirm that you can use the music track of your choice in your production.
Blooming excellent free to use music, plus they provide with written approval to use all music on youtube by just filling in a 3 line form (just to avoid those peasky youtube copyright claims): www.teknoaxe.com/Home.php
Creative commons music (typically rock music with instrumentals of each song): joshwoodward.com/
Can't miss Youtube's very own audio library. Some really good stuff on here. Especially some of those orchestrated classics like Midsummer's Night Dream (wedding song): http://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary
There are certain tracks that are under creative commons. If you are unsure, contact the artist:soundcloud.com/
Free Music Archive, filled to the brim with stuff. Just check the licence when looking at music :-D You can even edit your search for ones specifically with the creative commons commercial licence :http://freemusicarchive.org/
If you have the money though, you can always licence music. The cheaper licences usually appear on sites likeBandcamp and Free Music Archive, or you can get written approval from an artist you like. Don't be expecting JayZ to mail you back though, he will probably be expecting a Huuuuuuge sum of cash.
If you have anymore you can share, please say! Always more welcome on the list :-D
Thank you guys for reading. Also, shoutout to Michael who runs the Yttalk website. He truly does care about the Youtube community and shared my thread on Yttalk so more people would know about it.
Callum "ProfKranc" Janes Character Voice Over Demo Reel:
Youtube:
Soundcloud:
A while back I posted a video on my Youtube channel describing how I have pushed forward into the realms of voice acting by getting a part in a video game mod.
The game was Skyrim and I was part of the mod: Dragon Break - Bad Wolf.
It wasn't that big a part, I literally had 1 line in the entire thing as a cultist. But I felt really proud to have been able to do something like that! Just hearing my voice come out of a character of something that I personally didn't make is amazing. It was a sense of accomplishment!
If you want to hear my line in the Skyrim mod, I added some into my voice actor announcement on my main channel. Watch it and it pretty much has the details of what I'm doing in terms of voice acting. As well as an explanation to whats happening with this channel stuff.
Here is the video, but if you prefer reading, you can read ahead because I will briefly explain it here :-)
So what's happening?
So basically I've started up a new channel called "ProfKrancVA" as a hub for all my voice acting videos and AMV videos.
After getting into the Skyrim mod, I put up a voice acting demo reel of of the stuff I had done so far all combined into one and since then I've been getting requests daily for me to voice stuff. I'll be honest, I don't think I'm the best Voice Over artist, but I'm glad I can help people out when it comes to voice acting.
I'll post a list of videos on here at a later date in order to showcase what stuff I've been in.
I'm really getting into voice acting! Its amazing and I really want to do more of it. However this doesn't mean I'm abandoning my endeavours into film-making! I love that too!
I understand starting a second channel probably isn't the best decision this early in the game, but I want to separate my work so my channel doesn't become a hub for whatever I feel like. Having a structure to your channel can help attract people to it. And that's exactly what I want to do :-)
I've also made a soundcloud so the the audio of any music I happen to make can be downloaded. I will also be uploading tracks before their video on there so if you want to hear the tracks before anyone else who watches the channel, click there and sub :-)
I'll still be posting here as always and it will include stuff about my endeavours in voice acting and film-making as it is rather a blog for me to share what I'm up to with projects, tips, tricks and all that jazz :-D
Want a Voice Over/ Actor?
So yeah I am open for requests and commissions so if you like what you hear from my voice over demo reel, please feel free to contact me via the "Contact Me" section up at the top of page :-)
And with that! I leave you! Here is a link to my main channel if you want skits, comedy, drama and randomness: http://www.youtube.com/user/profkranc
And here is a link to my VA (voice acting) channel if you want to hear me voice in things and see some awesome AMVs (Anime Music Videos): https://www.youtube.com/user/ProfKrancVA
When confronted by a mugger in the park, our hero is met with a surprising turn of events.
Watch it and let me know what you think! :-D
This video was directed and written by my good friend Ryan Holywell (he's the guy who gets mugged). Brilliant guy who always got your back when you need a hand. He just came up with this idea and I was like, lets film it! :-D
Little random fact, all the sounds except for the conversation was dubbed over by foley I recorded :-D I'm going to go a bit more into foley at a later date, so stay tuned! Hope you like the video! :-D
Need tips and tricks on making your content look more professional/ improve its production value? Well you have come to the right place! On this episode on ProfKranc Talks, we discuss the basics in making your videos look more professional!
Okay, so I made this video purely because I think some people may like a how to like this better in a video format. HOWEVER I have listed a few more tips and tricks below here not found in the video! So if you want to try and make your video look EVEN MORE professional, then read on :-D
1. Planning your Videos
Even in what people may consider the easiest videos to make (which they aren’t btw) like gaming commentary, planning can really help your videos.
Now when I say planning, I literally mean when you are going to shoot, what are you going to shoot, have a script laid out for your video. Essentially knowing what you want, when you want it and knowing how it will end up in editing is crucial to making a quality video.
When you wing it on a video, even on like a blog where you are just talking, having a subject ready is the basics behind making a good vlog!
It’s like if you were a main character in a play. You wouldn’t go onto the stage on the day of performance not having practiced your lines other you would look like a fool in front of everybody!
Something you have to remember when posting a video on Youtube is that potentially thousands to millions of people are going to be watching your content. So are you going to go out there in front of everybody not knowing what you have do?
Surprisingly some people will still say yes. But if you want to try and make quality videos, then try and plan ahead. Don’t go into a game without a game plan!
2. Spend time editing your video!
Too many times have I come across channels of people speaking dreams of wanting to make it big on Youtube and not even putting the time into editing their videos.
I’m not speaking from experience here cause if you have been on my channel you can see how low my sub count is, but the basics that people should replicate is editing your video down. The big Youtube players do this, so we should to.
When you click onto a video and see the video’s length is like 10 mins long for something that seems so simple like… What did I eat for lunch today?
Even though that sounds like one of the stupidest ideas for a video ever, people will have clicked onto your video to see that, but if you have spent 3 mins talking about how you came to have that lunch people are going to click away.
Editing your video down to the essential information is crucial. If your video drones on, people will get bored and you will have lost their attention.
Now you are probably thinking “but Prof, your video was 10 mins long!”. That’s true, but that’s because I have enough information to pad the entire thing. Throughout the whole video you are constantly learning and that will retain peoples attention as it doesn’t stop feeding you valuable information.
The lesson still stands. The shorter your video while still retaining the good parts, the better.
3. Framing and composition
When you are watching a vlog about someone talking about equality, do you want the camera to be down low and looking up at the person speaking? No, cause then it will not only look like they are powerful, but also seem like them are talking down to you!
Something that is commonly overlooked in video making is how the video is framed. Here are a few things to look out for when setting up the camera for your video.
The Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds basically outlines the golden section of an image for a subject to be in. When you see a photo or an interview where the subject is focused off to the right or left of the photo, why do you think that is?
It’s because it gives the photo a better sense of composition.
Here is an example of the Rule of Thirds:
As you can see here, there are lines to represent where a golden section within the image. It’s essentially a guideline for good composition in photos. This may not apply to blogs however because you are speaking directly to your audience. But it definitely does apply when it comes to film-making.
Extra:
When you are filming a Youtube video, it’s hard to get this unless you have a fancy camera like a DSLR, but if you can get a nice blur around the subject of the photo thanks to a fixed focal length within the lens of the camera, it can make for a nicer image on the camera.
But yeah, that’s all for today. If there is enough demand, I’ll be making another one of these videos in the near future as well as accompanying it with other posts that have extra tips :-D
NEW VIDEO!!! Check out this new AMV combing the sitcom Friends theme song with the amazing anime Clannad! Have a watch! http://youtu.be/WoRaMRUvYaM
So yeah, this AMV was actually entered into the Eirtakon AMV Competition alongside another Doctor Who based AMV.
Unfortunately it didn't win anything, but I'm still really proud of the result. Plus loads of people really enjoyed it. People in the viewing hall cheered at the end of it!!
I may release the other one I did for the competition on my channel too.
I'm actually thinking of making another channel specifically for my AMVs for the matter of separation of two entirely different types of content. You know, drama and anime music videos don't really mix. But I'm not sure :-/
What do you guys think? Drop a comment below and tell me what you think about me creating a new channel just for my AMVs.
Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you are all having an awesome start to the year! :-D
And Again we are back with Youtube Advice!!! This is where I talk about the advice I have gathered over time from personal experience and from official Youtube staff. This time, we are talking about regular/ series content.
Let's get started!!
As I have posted a video a while ago called "ProfKranc Talks" I think this is something I should talk about, or at least explain my attempt at creating a regular show on my channel.
Something you will notice on many of the larger channels on Youtube is that they post a lot of similar content, or have a "show" per se.
An example of this is Tobuscus.
Tobuscus is a famous Youtube personality for his over the top videos that span over several pieces of regular content.
In this case, there a multiple "shows" he has.
This includes:
TobyGames: "featuring Let's Plays of popular games with commentary"
Literal Trailers: "Trailer's with Tobuscus parodying the song with singing lyrics alongside it"
Lazy Vlogs: "Long Unedited vlog videos"
Tobuscus Adventures: "Animated shorts of Tobuscus and his random adventures"
Tobuscus Songs: "Songs that Tobuscus posts every so often usually parodying something popular"
As you can see, he has a lot of these. In fact I think I may have also missed a few small series on his channel but you get my point.
People go to his channel not only for his funny videos, but because he has this serial content, we can say they go back to his channel because of the fact they know there will be a continuing of content they like. But there is the case that what if you have serial content that one batch of viewers like, and another batch don't?
Now you could say that this is channel specific and that's true. People have separate channels for different types of content. People have gaming channels, vlog channels, sketch channels, etc. Well you could say there is a kind of a common sense among creators that they separate their content so their viewers don't get bombarded with content they don't like. However there is no rule for this.
Fine Bros
For example, recently TheFineBros who run the successful React Series have moved their drama/ comedy music series "MyMusic" to their main channel.
Originally MyMusic was completely on their own channel, but I think it is clear that because their main channel has more subscribers and garners more views than their MyMusic channel, they decided to move it to their main channel because there it would get more attention.
I'm going slightly off track here, but this is my opinion on the situation of creating serial content for your channel:
I think in order to maintain an audience you need to make sure you create similar content or content that your target audience will like, otherwise if they are bombarded with alien content they will unsubscribe and you will loose a viewer. However if you are creating a show, you need to make sure it is regular otherwise it will not serve the purpose that it was created for:
Serial content is to create entertaining, regular and similar content that will attract and keep a viewer subscribed to your channel.
This is something we have to point out. That when creating serial content, you have to make sure it is engaging and that it is something you can create regularly. If you are thinking of making big blockbuster short films every week with a full time job, you may have to rethink your release schedule.
This of course doesn't mean when you create "Serial Content" that it has to be a show, it could just be things of a similar nature. It doesn't even have to be classified as a show, it's just a word I'm using to describe ProfKranc Talks as that is what it is.
You have to realise that if you are going to commit to something, you have to have the time to do it. Not only that, but make sure that it is something that people will like and so far that is what ProfKranc Talks will be.
The point behind creating ProfKranc Talks is that it is an quick and easy way to create regular content, engage with my audience and also allow me another outlet on the channel apart from comedy and horror videos with the odd AMV.
But anyway, this was really just a rant about my opinion behind creating serial content. I think my channel needed something regular in order to keep viewers here apart from my comedy and drama videos.
That and it's easy to create, which gives me more time to create better content for my sketches and so on.
Thanks for reading everyone, I hope this helps. ProfKranc here and I will see you next time :-).
Oh, and make sure that you are creating something other than Let's Plays. Unless you have a really original take on it, with the situation Gaming channels are in at the moment with this recent copyright lockdown I don't think its the best idea. That and there are enough gaming channels out there right now, I would love to see something new like.... an online drama or something.
But again, that is just my opinion, if you are reading this and you have a Youtube channel, please send me a link either in the comments or in the Blog's Contact me page. I would love to see what you guys do! :-)
Oh and there is something I haven't done for a while.......
Okay so for anyone who hasn’t seen the video, take a look below as this probably won’t make sense if you haven’t watched it.
Watched the video? Good, now let’s get down to business.
The Initial Spark
As Halloween approached, I decided that I should do something to celebrate this brilliant holiday of goblins, ghosts and ghouls with a little horror video.
So as this video says in the title, the video was based solely on a creepypasta. Literally I was reading the creepypasta word for word in this video. The entire video is just a dramatisation of it. You may not realise this, but there are a lot of creepypasta channels out there.
If you google “Creepypasta Youtube channel”, probably the first youtube channel to come up would be “MrCreepypasta” which is essentially someone just reading the creepypasta with some pictures and some music.
As you may know from my channel, I like dramatising things. So I decided, why not make a simple and live action version of this creepypasta.
By the way, if you don’t know what a creepypasta is, it’s essentially a story made on the internet to intentionally scare the reader.
So, what is so behind the scenes about this article? Well, even though the spark itself isn’t that big of a deal because I literally just did what a lot of hollywood studious do: take an already successful piece of literature and make it into something people can watch rather than read.
Well, there is the how that I can explain for this video. This means showing you this effect:
Falling into darkness effect
This effect, in other words:
This effect consisted of one main trick.
Green screen.
I have realised I use green screen for a lot of my effects! I guess that’s a pro tip.
Pro Tip: Get a Green screen.
Wait I’m not a pro, so we’ll need to call it something else that’s similar….
Prof Tip: Get a Green screen.
Okay, so What I did first was film a blank plate. This was pretty much just this for 5 seconds:
After that, I then put the green screen in with the exact same lighting (to make it look the same as the blank slate) and then filmed me doing the actions. Like so:
In doing this, I have now been able to separate the two assets of the actor doing the actions and the background. This allows me some creative freedom in what I can do with it. There is another way of doing this which includes a lot of masking, but green screen is less time consuming and so much easier.
So anyway, I brought both of these assets into my editing software (I used Final Cut Pro X) and placed on asset on top of another.
After using the blank slate as the base layer, I put the green screen footage over the top of it and then keyed it.
It should look like this on your editing timeline:
This made the actor seem like he was in the room. That was step 1 done, step 2 was making the background fall away and leaving him in darkness.
So how I did it was I took the base layer (background/ blank slate) and then added 2 keyframes. One keyframe when it was normal and one when it was at 0%, essentially it had disappeared. The two keyframes allow the transition of the fall into darkness gradual. Rather than the background disappearing, we now have it speeding away and getting smaller behind the actors head.
Upon this, we have essentially got the effect. One thing is though, it looks very blocky. Like literally it is a square getting smaller. Now if this is what you want to go for, thats it for you. Congrats you have made the effect!
But if you want to go a bit further, add either a feather mask or a vignette on your base layer footage and adjust it to when the layer gets smaller. This give it a smoother edge and doesn’t make it look as blocky.
Now just slap some sound effects on there and boom, got yourself the falling into darkness effect.
Happy Black Friday everyone! Hope you don't get trampled over if you join the crowds!
Anyway, prepare for an epic video! Really proud of this one! Has a proper epic trailer feel! And it's not just because of the inception horn! :-D
The Prophecy foretold that the ancient warrior Bob would build an army an rise against the tyranny of Google+. Watch as I speak of the legend of this great battle as Bob's army attempts to liberate Youtube from Google+!
Have you seen this man?
This is Bob. A while ago (by that I mean back in 2009) he was a picture meme where people would post him in the Youtube comments saying he had "taken over" Youtube. He disappeared for a while, but now he has resurged as the front for the copy paste battle against the new Youtube commenting system.
If you frequent Youtube, you probably have noticed a change in not only the commenting system, but this sudden integration with Google+. Everyone dislikes change, but some people hate this commenting system so much that it has started a sort of movement against it.
Truth be told, most of the content creators I watch seemed to have benefitted from the commenting system change. They are just a bit more peeved off about how Google+ is being shoved in our faces by asking us every so often whether we want to use our real name on our Youtube account.
If you want to sign an internet petition that's going around to try and reverse this change in the Youtube comment system, here is a link: goo.gl/DzL6kx
I'm not really bothered by it, cause honestly I don't get enough comments to even bother moderating them but for some people it seems like a pretty big thing.
Anyway, new video. Badaboom! :-D Hope you enjoyed it, I'll catch you on the next post!
