umbysworld
YTtalk Mad
I wanted to tell the story of my new video. It's my most watched video to date and has basically caused my channel to double in subs and total views in just a few days. If this is more appropriate for a different part of the forum, I apologize.
For the past 2 years, my favorite youtube channel has been Super Best Friends Play (a.k.a. thesw1tcher). They don't just play video games, they create a whole world of memes and lore that just sucks you in. It's because of them that I started my channel. I ended up veering away from making gaming videos though, since there's so many gaming channels.
One SBFP member, Pat, has a cat named Elmo. When he or his fiance Paige stream on twitch, Elmo will jump on the couch with them and they pet him and do a little rhyme that goes, "He is good, and he is sweet, and he has nice feet. Beep beep." Catchy, huh? Most of the fans love Elmo and get really excited when he's on camera. For me, it's not just because I love cats, but because one of my own cats, Kero, passed away last July. Since then, I've been up and down and a little lost. Like Kero, Elmo is a black and white male rescue. When I first saw Elmo (a month or so after Kero died) it just made me happy. Another SBFP member, Matt, has two cats which are super adorable but don't remind me of Kero the way Elmo does.
A few months later, a melody for the Elmo rhyme just came to me. Then verse lyrics. I decided to dust off my guitar which I hadn't touched in about 10 years and write "BEEP BEEP (The Elmo Song)". I wasn't sure if it was going to work out. Until this song, I had just taken copyright free instrumentals and sung my own lyrics over them. I hadn't written a song from scratch in longer than I hadn't played guitar. Now I had to actually record a song, and with just a $50 microphone, audacity, and a little bit of Adobe Soundbooth (which I don't really know how to use lol). I eventually got the song to sound the way I had envisioned. I even got Pat and Paige to recite the Elmo rhyme very clearly on stream so I could use it in the song.
Then came the video. At first, it was just going to be a slide show of photos. Then I decided to give it the same treatment as my other music videos with a bit of pseudo animation and dynamic on-screen lyrics. I took more time and care with it than any of my other videos. I put my heart into it because I knew if I did that it would resonate with people. However, I didn't really expect it to receive the attention it's gotten.
Pat and Paige not only love the song and video but they even showed it on Paige's twitch stream last night. People are giving it more praise than I had hoped for and it's a bit surreal. Knowing that I may have "affected the lore" (only SBFP fans might understand what I mean) is something that's going to take a while to sink in. People are already quoting the video and I have a feeling that it's going to have a legacy beyond the scope of myself and my channel. I feel like I'm suddenly part of something that I've been on the outside looking in on all this time, which is the total opposite of how my life typically goes.
I'm not sure what's going to happen from here on. I'm going through a weird time in my life and this sudden exposure has taken me by surprise. Just gonna take a deep breath and hope I can calm down enough to make my next video soon.
And now for a funny related anecdote! I still have two cats: Kero's sister Luna, and Rigby who I got a few months after Kero passed away. I just can't live without a male cat for some reason. So last night, as soon as Pat and Paige started up my video... Rigby knocked the monitor over onto Luna! I was like "REALLY RIGBY????" If you have cats, you know how it goes lol.
tl;dr - I made a music video about a popular cat and his owners and fans are thrilled, but I'm a little nervous.
For the past 2 years, my favorite youtube channel has been Super Best Friends Play (a.k.a. thesw1tcher). They don't just play video games, they create a whole world of memes and lore that just sucks you in. It's because of them that I started my channel. I ended up veering away from making gaming videos though, since there's so many gaming channels.
One SBFP member, Pat, has a cat named Elmo. When he or his fiance Paige stream on twitch, Elmo will jump on the couch with them and they pet him and do a little rhyme that goes, "He is good, and he is sweet, and he has nice feet. Beep beep." Catchy, huh? Most of the fans love Elmo and get really excited when he's on camera. For me, it's not just because I love cats, but because one of my own cats, Kero, passed away last July. Since then, I've been up and down and a little lost. Like Kero, Elmo is a black and white male rescue. When I first saw Elmo (a month or so after Kero died) it just made me happy. Another SBFP member, Matt, has two cats which are super adorable but don't remind me of Kero the way Elmo does.
A few months later, a melody for the Elmo rhyme just came to me. Then verse lyrics. I decided to dust off my guitar which I hadn't touched in about 10 years and write "BEEP BEEP (The Elmo Song)". I wasn't sure if it was going to work out. Until this song, I had just taken copyright free instrumentals and sung my own lyrics over them. I hadn't written a song from scratch in longer than I hadn't played guitar. Now I had to actually record a song, and with just a $50 microphone, audacity, and a little bit of Adobe Soundbooth (which I don't really know how to use lol). I eventually got the song to sound the way I had envisioned. I even got Pat and Paige to recite the Elmo rhyme very clearly on stream so I could use it in the song.
Then came the video. At first, it was just going to be a slide show of photos. Then I decided to give it the same treatment as my other music videos with a bit of pseudo animation and dynamic on-screen lyrics. I took more time and care with it than any of my other videos. I put my heart into it because I knew if I did that it would resonate with people. However, I didn't really expect it to receive the attention it's gotten.
Pat and Paige not only love the song and video but they even showed it on Paige's twitch stream last night. People are giving it more praise than I had hoped for and it's a bit surreal. Knowing that I may have "affected the lore" (only SBFP fans might understand what I mean) is something that's going to take a while to sink in. People are already quoting the video and I have a feeling that it's going to have a legacy beyond the scope of myself and my channel. I feel like I'm suddenly part of something that I've been on the outside looking in on all this time, which is the total opposite of how my life typically goes.
I'm not sure what's going to happen from here on. I'm going through a weird time in my life and this sudden exposure has taken me by surprise. Just gonna take a deep breath and hope I can calm down enough to make my next video soon.
And now for a funny related anecdote! I still have two cats: Kero's sister Luna, and Rigby who I got a few months after Kero passed away. I just can't live without a male cat for some reason. So last night, as soon as Pat and Paige started up my video... Rigby knocked the monitor over onto Luna! I was like "REALLY RIGBY????" If you have cats, you know how it goes lol.
tl;dr - I made a music video about a popular cat and his owners and fans are thrilled, but I'm a little nervous.
