Kraut_and_Tea
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2 Months of Stress and hard work incoming.
🕑 Added 2021-04-30 17:44:25 +0000 UTCHey, I wanted to take the time to tell you about the plans for this channel within the next couple of months and the rest of the year.
I have been taking a close look at my channel analytics and I can tell that you all really like the long video format of 4 hour-long series divided up into 1 hour-long videos. I enjoy doing these too. They are great. And they are different. And the fact that I managed to make these cheaply with a small team of artists is also a point of pride for me. There are many youtubers who did fundraisers and gofundmes to raise upwards of 40 000 euros to finance the creation of one hour-long documentaries by paying a studio. We managed to create four-hour-long pieces of excellence, that at most, cost us 3000 euros per hour in length in expenses, and sometimes only 500, on our own by our own means. This means we produced feature-length educational documentaries at only a 10th or even 20th of the cost that others do. I believe that is something to be proud of. It proves conclusively that a simple youtuber now has the means to produce the type of videos that people would usually expect from HBO or Netflix, and that film making market might be demonopolized increasingly, out of studios and placed into the hands of small independent people and their creative vision.
However, there is a problem with the format we chose to have. We are on youtube, dependant on YouTubes algorithm and it inadvertently screws with my channel a little. Because there are waiting times of two to three months on my channel in between the videos I create, my channel can often seem dead or sometimes even seems to be registered as dead. Its videos are not recommended, and new people have a hard time finding my channel. I do not go to other YouTubers or to twitch streamers to ask for shoutouts or promotions, because I would like to build as much of the audience of this channel myself, organically. And if I want to continue this process, a simple unavoidable fact is that I need to reduce the waiting time between my videos. This, however, at the current stage of production, is not possible. I do not earn enough to hire more artists to speed up the process of creating hour-long videos, and I do not draw fast enough myself. I also do not want to cut down how much I pay artists, and want to keep the promise I made you all that everyone who works for me: will be paid a living wage.
Instead the way forward, in my opinion, is that we have to mix short videos and long videos. That we upload a short 10-20 minute long video every month and work on the long projects on the side. This would allow for the channel engagement to remain positive, possibly attract more people to the channel, and if done correctly, provide a comfortable cushion of time to produce more of the 4-hour long content that all of you love so much.
So this is the plan. We will finish the Mexico-America border series in June, and then we will go on an insane two months of coffee, stress, and crunching work, from July to August. During that time I intend to write 6-12 scripts for videos that are 10-20 minutes in length and to draw art for them. Record them. Edit them. And keep them stored on an external hard drive. That way I will have a library of videos for half a year or maybe even a year in advance, I can then simply upload one per month which guarantees that there will be a video per month published on the channel. If it works we might do it again to maybe guarantee 2 years of videos in advance, or 2 videos per month for one year in advance.
I have already narrowed down the topics for this, and have begun the process of reading books and writing scripts. Because I do not want the quality to suffer either.
The only problem I have is that I do not know how to compensate the artists for this enormous undertaking in advance. So, 1: either I will pay them out of my own pocket with the earnings of the next Mexico video, 2: or I will give them guaranteed shares of the income that these videos make, 3: or I might take a small business loan for 8000 euros from my bank so I can pay each one of the 4 artists 1000 euros a month for 2 months of work, 4: I might do a gofundme to raise 4000 or 8000 euros to pay them after the 1-2 months of stress and work.
I'm going to choose by the time the final part of the Mexico-America series is published what approach we will take. But we will be doing it. What it means for you, is that by July or August we would like to change this channel to having one 10-20 minute long video published per month. And that every 3-4 months that cycle will be interrupted by a 4 hour long series of videos consisting of 4 separate one-hour long videos published over the course of one single month. It will also mean that I will change my Patreon from being paid per video, to being paid per month. If we can pull this off successfully, I would like to save money do a passion project by 2023 or 2024, namely, break the world record for the longest film - that currently stands at 58 hours. Either by making a 59-hour long film about the entire history of China, which would be in the format of having 10 hours dedicated to each millennium. Or a history of every state of the United States, with 2 hours for each state.
For any of this to even be possible, the 2-3 months of hard work and stress are very much needed. What this means is that from the months of May to August I will be very inactive on social media and elsewhere, and hyperfocused on work. You will not be seeing me much outside of the videos I create. And I will only return after this project of establishing a system of shorter videos succeeded or failed, to then inform you if it failed of succeeded.
Comments
Loan might be a good idea so long as you can get favorable rates. Not sure how it is near you. I love your content though Kraut. You are my window to current and past geopolitics. It astounds me how detailed you are and how well you present. 10-20min videos are a good plan. I originally subscribed to your channel when you were making shorter videos. In no way is it a stepback in my opinion. I think you'll find good routine in that plan. While your longer length videos are your best content, you need to put the business first in this case. Lastly, I'd very much like the 59 hours of Chinese history!!!
Also, hello to all my compatriots! I'm new to Patreon so I have no idea how this works. I gather that many of you share similar values as I do, only I was late to the game. Saludos!
I read your post on YouTube and decided to support you on Patreon. This is my first time EVER paying for a YouTube channel but I'm doing so because I firmly believe that supporting your work is of vital importance to the world (or at least the English speaking side). Unbiased, in-depth, and accessible history is not common, and the way your videos are presented with visuals, sound, etc. make history easier to understand and fun to watch. I hope the best for you and I understand you got to do what you got to do. You and your team are amazing.
