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Being Overzealous, Inexperienced, And Wicked Frustrated -- The Death Of This Week's Podcast


I had a great plan in mind for the podcast that was going to be released on October 30th. I had a big plan that would involve new intro music, a new backdrop for the video version of the podcast, and I even had a couple of guests set and ready to talk about the week's topic with me. It would seem, however, that I got a little too big for my britches.

 As most of those who listen to the podcast or follow Ski Rex Media know, I'm still pretty new to this. I do have some skills in some of the things I've been attempting as part of the content released for the website and social media, but that pales in comparison to what I don't know and the skills that I don't have, or so it would seem. 

From "The Lost Episode" - Myself and my friend, Mike Higgins,
during recording.
Case in point, I have realized that I am not as skilled with a green screen as I thought. I came to find out that, though I do know how to set one up and light it to a point, I don't have the experience needed to get it to look that way I want. I thought it would be great to make a background that was a bit more fitting that just the white walls of my workspace. It sounds like a great idea in theory, doesn't it? Well, as you can see from the photos, the background came out pretty decent. Thankfully I do have a little experience with photo editing software. But, I just couldn't get it to look quite right in the video. It turns out that I can't get far enough away from the green screen to keep the green color from reflecting on to me. If you look closely, you can see the spill from the green screen around me.

 Now, that episode also ended with an audio issue that just couldn't be fixed after the fact. Once again, inexperience with new software was to blame. The program worked just fine, though I wasn't using a key feature that would have tipped me off to the audio issue before it was too late. I should have been monitoring the audio from all sources. It was because I was not monitoring the audio from all sources that I did notice the wicked bad echo, making it impossible to listen to.

 So, though I do thank both of my friends, one that you see in the picture, Mike Higgins, and one that was on an audio-only call, and an unofficial part of Ski Rex Media, Travis Coolbeth. We had a great time with a pretty interesting topic and I thought we did pretty well, but that audio issue was just too much to release the episode, which is going to be referred to, from now on, as "The Lost Episode" of the Ski Rex Media Podcast.

The second background I made. Not bad, but I still wasn't
using it right with the green screen.
Now, did that stop me from trying to put out another episode? No, it did not. I decided to record another storytelling episode since I did not have a back-up topic. Again, I biffed on the audio. It wasn't intolerable, but it just didn't sound all that good. Also, again, I biffed on the green screen work and the video portion didn't come out that way I wanted it.  You can see in this photo that I got the green screen to work a little better, but not quite good enough. Though I do like the new background I created. The window to my right is pretty good. It's my favorite part of the design, but it is still fake. I needed to get a video to drop behind it so it would seem as if that was a window to the outside. I was not able to make that happen, which is why it's just black in the photo. Beyond the look, I didn't really like the way the episode came out. If you're thinking that it would've been fine to just release it as an audio-only episode, you'd be right. But, when I listened to what I recorded, I just didn't like it. This is a shame because I do like to tell stories and I do like that story in particular.

 So, it was a hard decision, but I have decided not to release an episode this week. I feel that it would be better to sort out the tech issues, do a little bit more studying of the software I am using, and come back stronger next week. I am pretty sure that I have all the tech issues sorted out and I have learned what I need to have a decent episode. It will at least be better than just releasing a half-assed episode just for the sake of getting one up.

 Furthermore, I am not going to be so overzealous or make it much harder than it needs to be. Of course, I would love to have a backdrop. It does look better. But, it could work as well if I just decorate the white walls that I have until I can either have a space large enough to use the green screen effectively or can build a proper studio space.

 To the point of making it easier and not being so overzealous, I could just have guests be audio-only calls, couldn't I? I don't necessarily need them to be on video calls. Now, Skype isn't all that hard to use, or even record now that I have the hang of it, but it would be just a ton easier to run a patch-cord from my phone to my recorder and have done with it. No fuss, no muss. We'll see what I decide, but it is an option, again, until I can put together something a bit more pro.

 In any case, for those of you that do listen, watch, or listen and watch the podcast, I thank you. I would have loved to have a new episode for you to check out, but it just didn't work out this week. But, don't quit on me now. As I said, I am going to get something together that should be much better for next week. Stick with me!

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