How does everyone fund their videos?

JV Trammell

A Filmmaker/Vlogger attempting to make you laugh.
How do you afford to make your videos? Specifically filmmakers or people creating sketches and skits. I personally make cinematic comedy sketches, which takes crew members, equipment, funding, and a lot of post production. So I spend a lot of money to make content and I am not able to make the content I want more regularly. The obvious answer is to just work a job and spend the earnings on making my sketches, but I just wanted to know, what everyone makes, how they fund the videos, and does money or lack of resources stop you from making content? Thanks to anyone that replies
 
Well, i just need a computer, the internet and a shitload of time. But i could imagine people aren't starting off huge, with really expensive stuff.
 
The lack of funds can always impair a production, but i feel lower funds means getting more creative with how you go about getting the desired result. If you really do need the money, look to your community for donations to help boost your quality. Or explore ways to get other sections of your videos done by other youtubers through favours or collaborating. These are just some tips that helped me get started and i hope they help you.
 
Sup JV!

Ok let me give you the guide to making well filmed sketches without money.

First of all this is YouTube, so your most likely not going to be able to get funding by film companies or your local studio unless your are crazy popular and even then most YouTubers that popular just pay for it normally because well, they're making money.

So first of start by asking yourself if you have any friends you may know from Uni, from school, work, whatever that might be able to help you free of charge in the flight of making awesomely funny videos. The thing to remember here is you need to have already got a channel full of videos that may not be well produced, but show that you have good ideas, great skills, and insane writing ability to make them want to be part of it.

If you've already got a good standing point, it doesn't even have to be friends. Say you're at Uni, go head to the media and film area and just ask as many people as you can until someone is willing to help out. Just simply, "hey I make youtube videos. These are the kinds of videos I make and here's one of my favourites, I'm looking for some people to help out with my next video so I can get a better quality presentation, do you think you'd be interested in the following script?" Most people, especially people who don't make youtube videos love the idea of being credited in a public production.

Also if you can find other youtubers to collborate with that already have great gear that could be an opportunity for a nice long term channel relationship.

That's the best I got really. Obviously if you really want to make some great cinematics, your gonna have to pay from your pocket. And that means getting a job or developing your channel until it makes profitable earnings. In the meantime while you haven't got the good gear, focus on your film techniques and editing techniques to make your videos the best they can without the great cameras and lenses.

Hope that somewhat helped? aha

- Joel

p.s. don't forget to setup fan funding and let your fans know you're saving up for some better gear. You never know who has a kind heart (and a wallet full of cash to splash)
 
I buy camera equipment, recording equipment etc. with leftover money I make through my freelance work as a filmmaker and voiceover artist, but that doesn't pay much. Budget really isn't that much of a problem though, don't be the poor workman that blames his tools!

I'd wager that 90% of the time, big YouTubers who make videos with larger budgets didn't start with those budgets. Whilst watching their older, less professional videos may seem cringey and poor quality compared to their current stuff, it must have been good enough to catch a few people's attention for them to get where they are now!

A common misconception is that the old videos of big YouTubers only look bad because of their age, and nowadays people extent a much higher standard of production, which is true to some extent, but less professional videos still have the potential to get views today!

You just need to lower your expectations, you're never going to get a million views on a sketch that you've shot on an iPhone and released on a channel with a low subscriber count, but that's not the point. These early videos need to be creatively shot and written for the budget that you have, meaning the people who watch are more likely to be impressed enough to watch more!

If they're good enough, people will subscribe and watch more of your videos in the future, then you've got the views from the audience who came back after watching your first video, plus the views from whoever stumbles across the second in the same way that people did the first.

The budget will grow as your channel does, the early stages are hard, but you should never let a small budget or poor equipment prevent you from creating content!

(Looking at your channel, it looks like you've already got really good quality content and production value, just keep producing content, why should people subscribe if you rarely post? Keep producing stuff like what you've been doing, and your channel, and your budget, will grow.)
 
How do you afford to make your videos? Specifically filmmakers or people creating sketches and skits. I personally make cinematic comedy sketches, which takes crew members, equipment, funding, and a lot of post production. So I spend a lot of money to make content and I am not able to make the content I want more regularly. The obvious answer is to just work a job and spend the earnings on making my sketches, but I just wanted to know, what everyone makes, how they fund the videos, and does money or lack of resources stop you from making content? Thanks to anyone that replies
I don't use money to make my videos mainly because I am documenting my weight loss, 50lbs gone so far yay! But yeah.... I guess some people put down their paypal link to get donations from viewers but I never had the need to have money to make videos x
 
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