I have just finished working on this video to announce the upcoming soft launch of the new version of The Effort-Free Life System. Soon it will go on a special landing page with a signup box on the right of the video so people can enter their name and email address to access some free material to help them make great strides forward in their lives.
But I thought I’d add it to this site so you can have an early look at the video…
I’d love to show with you how I created this video. All you have to do is share this page and you’ll be able to see extra content, which consists of 9 ‘secrets’ and 8 ‘behind the scenes’ photos…
[wpsharely id=”2552″]I used 2 video cameras for extra interest. One is my iPhone 5s and the other is a $1,000 semi-pro Canon camcorder. This creates extra interest in the video as there are 2 angles on my face.
In this photo is my video guy, Allan, from Sapphire14Media (see his YouTube channel too) who lives in London. Here he is, setting up the iPhone…
Allan with my semi-pro Canon camcorder and Rode shotgun mike on top…
I used a Sennheisser lavelier (tiepin) microphone (approx $130) plugged into a Zoom H4n Recorder (about $300) to record the sound. At the editing stage I was able to compare the sound from the lavelier with the sound from my Rode VideoMic Pro shotgun microphone and the in-built mike on the iPhone 5s: the lavelier sound was the best by far. So invest in a lavelier mike if you can.
Me wearing a Sennheisser lavelier mike, and holding my Zoom H4n recorder…
I edited the video using Final Cut Pro on the Mac: I was able to import the video sound footage and FCP synchronised them together which made the multicam editing so much easier – instead of me having to sync the 3 elements manually.
I used 3 soft boxes: 2 shining on my face and 1 on the back wall of my spare bedroom: these cost about $150 a pair. Here’s a photo from the Strumstick video you’ll find on this site which we recorded right after this one…
I used stock video footage which I sourced online for the frisbee sequence and wiggling feet: I didn’t go out and film this myself.
I played back the ‘people moving around’ footage at 4 times the original speed of the stock footage to give the idea of fast, stressful movement.
I used a ‘Ken Burns’ panning effect on the photo of the woman outdoors to make the photo more dynamic
To film the Effort-Free Life System binder I put my $1,000 camcorder on a tripod, and strapped the tripod feet into a set of wheels so I could glide elegantly across the binder cover. The set of wheels cost about $45.
When the Effort-Free Life System binder comes into view it’s out of focus at first, yes? I did this by putting my hand in front of the lens…
then moving it quickly away…
…and letting the camcorder autofocus on the find 3 feet below. I recorded this several times to get the refocusing just right.
If you have any questions about the making of this video, let me know via the Contact Me page.
[/wpsharely]At Christmas a couple of years ago I treated myself to a Strumstick. It looks and sounds like a guitar but it’s easier to play.
I had almost zero musical experience or skill at the time. I committed to playing a minimum of 3 minutes every day.
Why 3 minutes?
Because no matter how tired or unmotivated I may be to practise, I can always do 3 minutes.
Sometimes I did more than 3 minutes.
A few days I did 15 minutes of practice.
But no matter how long I practised on any one day, I always did my 3 minutes the next day.
Here’s a video showing how far I got with one track after 30 days of practice…
I can now play about 20 songs. Here’s another: When The Saints Go Marching In…
I recently attended a stand-up comedy workshop with Tim Dingle. It was great fun, and I learned a lot. Tim is the MC (Master of Ceremonies) at regular standup comedy nights at Dirty Dick’s pub opposite Liverpool Street Station in London.
This is me at Tim’s workshop, which was held at Dirty Dicks…
…and this is the outside of the pub…
After the workshop I did my comedy debut there in February 2014. My slot was 5 minutes, and I got some good laughs. There were about 50 people in the audience, and several friends.
A big thanks too to Chris Head for his brilliant support: I’ve just finished his 10-evening stand-up course which has been great fun and very enlightening. I have no interest in being a standup comedian: I just want to be able to add more humour to my talks, workshops and videos.