The camera is set up. The lighting is perfect. And… action!

While watching Youtube videos is an entertaining pastime, for sophomore Colin Chow and juniors Haley Tamtoro and Adithri Sharmi, creating their own content is even more gratifying. 

Chow started his Youtube channel, Coin Cow, while bored during quarantine. While he’s always imagined being a Youtuber, he derived inspiration to finally fulfill his dream from the TikToks and consistent creators that kept him entertained from childhood to his time in isolation. Chow began by posting snippets of his life, from adventures with his friends to basic school work. 

Tamtoro’s vlogger roots also originated with quarantine, when she grew interested in lifestyle videos, specifically the artistic videography her favorite creators used. What began as a simple obsession with popular Youtubers led to an exploration of video production, opening her horizons to playing around with exposure and framing cinematic clips. She joined Youtube under the name yelah, pledging to herself that she would make videos at least once a month for consistency. 

“I wanted to make videos, but I had no kind of excuse to do so,” Tamtoro said. “Youtube is a way to keep myself accountable.”

Singer Sharma expanded to Youtube after establishing herself on other platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. 

For all three students, the process behind posting Youtube videos follows the same basic steps of planning, recording, editing and uploading. Nevertheless, each has tailored the process to fit their own habits. Tamtoro primarily films on her phone for convenience and portability, while Chow uses a Canon camera for higher video quality. From production to editing, the completion of a video often requires advanced equipment and editing software. Chow and Tamtoro have invested both time and money into video production equipment, and are committed to producing high quality content.

Chow can spend anywhere from a couple of days to a week editing a video, painstakingly color grading, trimming and adding visual effects to his clips on Adobe Premiere Pro. Tamtoro spends roughly a week editing her videos, mainly during the night with LED lights the only source of brightness in her room, as she reserves the afternoons and evenings for homework and other school-related activities. 

Posting consistent content on Youtube is a difficult task, especially during the school year and periods of creative burnout — when content creators lack inspiration to start a new project. For Chow, Youtube is more of a hobby and passion project, not a priority, so he mostly works on videos when he feels a creative itch. He aims to find a balance between Youtube and his other pursuits, especially by producing a mix of more labor-intensive, longer videos and shorter videos. 

“Youtube helped me realize that even the littlest moments in my life, no matter how many views that they received, are worth remembering,” Tamtoro said. “Moving forward, I hope to continue learning more about video production so I can document my experiences with greater creativity.”