Eleven Questions and Eleven Answers

This is a transcript from:

Me: Welcome to and this challenge, the challenge has set been set by Glyn Beckwith and I think it's based on the van life challenges. Glyn wanted to make it a bit more focused on YouTubers with Caravans and Motorhomes.

So hit me!

Jenny: Yes so we've got 11 questions I'm going to ask the questions you're going to supply the answers right?

Me: All right so I need your help?

Jenny: Right so question number one, is why did you start YouTube channel?

Me: We'd I'd started keeping like a diary of where we were going in the Motorhome and I probably started it when we first moved up north and I was writing down where went to. I didn't know when  or wherever we were and I thought I kept that going for about six months, I think I got a bit bored with doing it, plus words for me don't tell the stuck the whole story.  So, looking back at my scribbles wasn’t ideal either so I came up with the idea of keeping a video diary. I would watch YouTube,  like a lot of people who were watching people like  Andrew Ditton and Dan Trudgian, who were videoing their holidays, We thought that seems like good idea.

I don't think I really at the start I really got the idea I what I was supposed to be doing.  I aready had the channel from when we had the business because we were doing Sage accounts and you had videos for that so that started the channel in 2011 . That's why that it says 2011 on YouTube because we did it for that reason.

Then we just I said to you if we film all my trips, where are you, how we are, you said, where are we going to watch them and I said if we put them on YouTube, it seemed a bit daft to film it just for our own consumption. I think the other thing obviously, is  your showing other people what to do as well. I know that it's been it started obviously well I can people get into motorhomes, in and show them how this Motorhome works and all that sort of things. We went to the shows, we recorded the shows and that that went well, from there, yes.

Jenny: right so question number two, how many subscribers have you currently got?

Me: I don't know the exact number at the moment but I think it's now it's nine and a half thousand around there it's about five hundred to go before we hit this so-called magic ten thousand which to me seems incredible, because I remember when we had ten and I think some of them were me and you and your mom!

Jenny: yes numbers, really there how many views has your channel had?

Me: good grief I should have looked that up!  

Jenny: Well it is it this three million one hundred and thousand it's something like that it's over three million views all together.

Me: Which is amazing but then like some people are like how on earth have had over 30 million yes yeah you know it puts into perspective yeah

Jenny: okay so question number four is what is your main YouTube topic?

Me: oh, it's about Motorhomes, I think probably it was originally more focused on touring with the motorhome, when we started that's been the main topic but then we got into you know adding things, accessories for motorhomes and how to's and help hints and tips started and then companies started sending us stuff to review so we did a bit of that. I know that's not popular with some people but it was interesting and quite enjoyed it.  There were some products we probably shouldn't have reviewed, a pair of shoes maybe comes to mind. You're actually wearing them.

Jenny: I am! Shall I do another review?

Me: Yeah if people want to send us stuff you know I think alright then.

Jenny: So where was the most exciting place you have filmed a video, that's question number five.

Me: My most exciting place I've filmed a video ,yeah the one that springs to mind is filming when we went when I went up in that ride at Edinburgh Christmas market! Oh yeah it was it cold called something like the crocodile.

Jenny: wasn’t it you and Aileen yeah went up in it and the first time you didn't switch the camera on so you went up again.

Me: well Aileen blagged a second ride and yeah same so I did it not once but twice, yeah and that was probably the most exciting bit of video I've ever filmed, yeah exciting stroke terrifying as opposed followed probably by that speed boat ride me and  Sharon went on.

Jenny:  So, number six is which is currently your most viewed video?

Me: That’s got to be the Ducato dashboard me, yeah link above anybody wants to  watch that so - dashboard menu I suppose it's such it's such a silly subject, really is how to operate and get to the menu in the on the Fiat Ducato and you know we did that after we went to France and the service light indicator came up, that's right, you know saying that we hadn't had a service for so many thousands of miles.

Jenny: which you had, but they don't reset it.

Me: I had to figure out where it was and that I thought well I might as well do a video just to show people how to get to the service indicator on the dashboard, but that's had 90 thousand views, yeah, but it's also got the most thumbs down of any video which I think is a bit well suppose compared with the number of views it's sad but it's probably you know, reasonable isn't it.

Jenny: but you were hoping to do a follow-up that?

Me: the menu still the same yeah it was just a 2014, then the 2019 dashboard is almost identical!

Jenny: all right I think I know the answer to number seven, oh yes you don't which is currently your least viewed video, it's the one walking around Clumber Park from Easter 2007.

Me: I'm going to put a link that poor video, for ages had eight views. I didn't know it had any thumbs down or thumbs up no they were just like how can someone do such a boring video!

Jenny: I just saw it was just it was our last day there, and we just thought we were just over walking around and you know, it was  are just such an anti-climax from the rest of them, yeah so that's definitely is, but you've got to watch that right.

Jenny: Number eight what cameras do you use?

Me: All right, well that's an easy one isn't it so currently filming with GoPro Hero 8 on a Ulanzi g8-5 with the microphone adapter and a light on the top and also I use a hero 7 which is the one I've got in my hand here and I tend to use that for what you would in the industry get me - in the industry, you'd call b-roll you know, sort of secondary shots but I also use the Hero 7 this one for going along footage like the driving footage, I don't use a dashcam, we use that.

Jenny: and we use this I try to switch it on and off.

Me: that's right yeah it seems to work pretty well. I don't think I would have done YouTube without the GoPro I wouldn’t have done any filming without it because they just find it so easy. That Sony one we had the big thing,

Jenny: that was really awkward to switch on, and heavy to hold heavy to hold and you'd end up with it on when you were walking along so you’d be recording  my feet and then when I thought recorded something good and switched it on, nothing, it was that sort of,

Me: whereas the hero you can you can almost put it in your pocket, well you can put in your pocket, you know you see something interesting you just press the button in it and you start filming.

I've left it for a long time I left all the settings on auto I think it's only now I'm actually starting to experiment with different settings and all sorts of things but the GoPro itself is an amazing little camera for the size of it. There are so many things in there that you'll only probably use, I don't know, 20% of the features in it.

Jenny: question number 9, have you ever made a video that made you sad or emotional?

Me: well I did see this question before, when I watched Glyn's video and Glyn talks about when they go into the Tyne Cot cemetery so yeah that was that was very emotional but I think for us, yeah I think when we went to the Passchendaele museum that was that sort of hit me here.

Jenny: Yeah well I think on a personal note I think it was going to see that memorial to the Hertfordshire regiment, oh yeah, then my grandad because you know, you were sort of filming me talking about it, and I thought I'm going to breakdown down and because it was you know, it sort of  hit me that if my Grandad had been killed you know I wouldn't be here,

Me: but it was all linked in like so with Passchendaele and yeah the tyne cot cemetery and all that hmm.

Jenny: so yeah and that would that was a difficult one for me to carry on talking in because I thought you know I'm going to well up in a minute, yeah so anything to do with in and around Ieper and places like that.

Me: yeah okay that's why I kept going back there, I think so yeah, we need to go back there again.

Jenny: question number 10, how many other YouTube channels have you met in person?

Me: good grief sort of lost count because I met an awful lot of youtubers when we go to the NEC and obviously a lot of them you know coming up and saying hello, although when we have these meetups we've met Andrew Ditton, we met Dan Trudgian , Here We Tow, Caravan Gossip and the Urban Motorhome, The Morleys, Poshcats, Lyn and Rich, Next Stop Everywhere, The Extreme Motorhomers. We're going to forget somebody on one we're bound to forget,

Jenny: We met Glyn,

Me: Glyn of course, and of course we met Herman Hits The road, They have a live today,

Jenny: no that's tomorrow.

Me: Oh yeah, I'm losing track of days and the Knaus campers and I can't remember what their the new channel name is I struggle with,

Jenny: yeah let's go I think it's let's go somewhere. We met quite a few at Hermanfest. Haven't we?

Me: and like you say at the NEC that's been one of the great thing having a youtube channel, we've met so many people, so many nice people. Well I'm sorry if we've missed you, poshcats camping,

Jenny: think I did say that, did we meet for love of caravans at the NEC?

Me: briefly I think we bumped into the them while was filming when we were with Alison, so yeah, probably 30 odd probably more than that probably 30-plus yeah yeah, he wants to know how many, oh good grief, loads, Glyn.

Jenny: Right, so number 11 is what satisfaction do you get from being a youtuber?

Me: I think briefly touched on that anyway it's this is a creative thing in me as well I mean being a bit from an engineering background you know the making of something I do enjoy that you know you start with a bit video waffling to the camera and you in there something that thousands of people watch hopefully,

Jenny: hopefully yeah

Me: It’s satisfaction, (phone beeps) thank you for that, satisfaction when people do watch it and people comment on it and say they enjoyed it yes that's right, yeah that's the satisfaction I get from YouTube, you know it's that sort of creative urge.

Jenny: yeah, I mean sometimes it's it can be hard work and you wonder why you stay up late at night and well I when I used to do databases and things, if you started something and  it doesn’t all quite go as well as you think, your brain starts working away and then you think I have to go back and have another look at that so it's that sort of thing in there you,

Me: that's right yeah you want to see the finished product don't you? I can understand that.

Question number 11?

Jenny: That was it. eleven yeah all right. So you've now got to think of three other's, three other channels mm-hmm, who are you going to challenge to do that?

Me: Let's nominate the people who have been an influence on us, I'll take someone, yeah, so we're going to nominate The Travel Trolls, TV Dan and Mazzy who to us seems so completely different to us and we have I think we feel a bit, I know, straight-laced and all that sort of thing but so we do enjoy watching that channel so we nominate the Travel Trolls TV. We nominates Herman Hits the Road, Ads and Zoe, so we met them very early on didn't we, yeah we had something like 200 subscribers and they had like 2000, something like that, no you gave us a lot of hints and tips and we were going to say Caravanning With The Coxes, because it's been lovely to meet Oliver isn't it, yeah his mum and dad so yeah lets us hear their answers yeah.

Jenny: alright yep, so thanks for that.

Me: Now that was a good one,

Jenny: it's different yeah.

Me: yeah so if you like what you see give us a thumbs up remember to subscribe if you haven't already and hit that notifications icon you'll get updates you know what helps the channel yep that's all, say goodbye Jenny do that yeah okay...