By far, my most popular video - content wise
- is the one I did on Fair Use/Fair Dealing.
Or, in other words, How I get away with using
clips in my video.
If you are new to my channel...or have found
me through search...HELLOOO!
My name is Tara and I tend to use a lot of
pop culture references in my videos!
“D’uh!” Mean Girls
Like this one:
“Phew! That was a close one! Oh nuts…”
Secret Life of Pets
And this one:
“Get it?” “Got it.” “Good” The
Court Jester
And they are intended to be relevant to what
I’m saying...but I’ll get to that. Either
way, what I want to cover today is the answer
to the biggest question that follows that
video on Fair Use:
Where do I find my clips and how do I put
them in my videos?
So, today, I’m going to talk about why I
use the clips (they aren’t an accident),
how I find them (it’s not simple), and how
I put them in my videos.
"I like to chk those objects and put them
in my videos," Reggie Watts
My name is Tara and this is…
Truly Social.
Soooooo...the story of my personal style - using
pop culture references to underscore my message
- is pretty straight forward. In a nutshell,
I am a bit of a pop culture junkie. I don’t
know if any of you remember, this, but in
the 90’s there was this show on HBO called
Dream On, where the main character, Martin,
was prone to daydream in classic tv and movie
clips. There was also a lot of sex and swearing,
which made it popular, but that isn’t why
it appealed to me.
"And I love the guys that say, 'I watch NASCAR
for the racing.' Yeah, right, and I watch
porn for the acting. Liar!" Robin Williams
I really identified with Martin, the main
character, because of his propensity to daydream
in pop culture terms, because I’VE always
daydreamed in pop culture terms, too. I have
the worst memory ever, but for some reason,
I have NO issue remembering significant tv
and movie moments. There was a time in my
life where I could actually tie every real
life moment I was having back to a Simpsons
or a Friends episode. I know...sad, right?
“Is that a problem?” Pheobe
Either way, when I started editing my videos,
I didn’t really plan to put in the clips,
but they just kept calling to me. It was only
a few videos in when I gave into my urge and
started using them. Now, they feel like they
are part of the family. :)
“Don’t ever take sides against the family
again.” The Godfather
So, then...how do I find them? This is a simple
and not so simple answer. My biggest go-to
is the MovieClips YouTube channel.Thank goodness
for this amazing channel, full of all of my
favourite movie scenes. I can usually count
on this channel to find even the most obscure
reference.
However, there ARE times when even I...someone
who thinks in pop culture references...comes
up short. I will watch a section of my video
and think, “This requires a clip that says
this” however, I can’t quite think of
the right reference. So, this is when I take
to search on Youtube and Google.
“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t
do that,” HAL, 2001: a Space Odyssey
The issue with searching for references on
YouTube is that YouTube’s search sucks.
It’s not Google-y at all. On Google, you
can put in a string of random things that
relate to what you are looking for and you
usually come up with the hit in the first
few results. For instance, I couldn’t remember
the name of Dream on, so I typed:
hbo tv show 90's swearing sex pop culture
references
And guess what came up as the first result
on Google? The IMDB listing for Dream On.
High Five Google.
YouTube, on the other hand, has more nefarious
purposes behind their search results. As I’ve
said in past videos, they really want to become
the next TV, so, they favour certain content...music
being the strongest.
Let me tell you that any phrase that you type
into YouTube is most likely a popular song
you’ve never heard of that has been covered
by a gabillion people. And YouTube thinks
that you are ALWAYS searching for popular
songs and their covers even when you NEVER
EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER click those songs
and their covers.
Google learns. YouTube? Not so much. Google
is about paving cowpaths. YouTube is about
laying concrete sidewalks. But moving on…
I find that searching IMDB for quotes is a
much better bet than searching YouTube.
Once I find that perfect clip, I use a tool
called KeepVid.com to download the video.
I know that’s probably not what YouTube
or Movie Clips or anyone else wants, but that’s
what I do. And I make a note of where I found
the clip, so I can link back to it in the
description.
Now that I have the clip, I just fold it into
the place I want it in my editor, which happens
to be Final Cut Pro nowadays, but iMovie and
other inexpensive editors work just fine,
too. That part - the editing process - is
a whole ‘nother video and lots of YouTube
creators have talked about this. If you are
still dying for my take, let me know! I’m
happy to walk you through it.
...but I should also note that I now hire
someone else awesome to do my editing because,
well, I let that go in exchange for time.
So, there you go. Why I use clips, where I
find them, and how I integrate them. At the
end of the day, I’ve found a style that
reflects the way my brain works, which is
really what everyone should strive for on
YouTube. Don’t try to be like anyone else.
Find your own voice and way to express it.
“When the mayor demanded that...ahem...when
the mayor demanded that…” Evan, Bruce
Almighty
My name is Tara and this has been
...Truly Social
