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Launch of Youtube Channel: My First Videos - Embedded World 2017

Stephane BoucherApril 5, 201721 comments

I went to Embedded World 2017 in Nuremberg with an ambitious plan; I would make video highlights of several exhibits (booths) to be presented to the *Related sites audience.  I would try to make the vendors focus their pitch on the essential in order to produce a one to three minutes video per booth.

So far my experience with making videos was limited to family videos, so I knew I had lots of reading to do and lots of Youtube videos and tutorials to watch.  Trade shows are challenging to shoot because they usually happen indoor, lighting varies wildly from booth to booth and there is a constant and usually intense background noise (crowd) to deal with.

Once I started to understand what I was getting myself into, it was clear that I needed to invest in lots of new gear:

  1. A gimbal for my phone in order to capture some stable footage of the booths
  2. A shotgun mic to attach to my Nikon D5300 DSLR in order to record some usable backup audio
  3. A field monitor to facilitate precise focusing on the subjects (the screen on the camera is too small)
  4. LED lights to get better lighting on the subjects
  5. Digital audio recorder to record audio from a Lavalier Microphone (that I rented). 
  6. A new fast lens that would perform well indoor

Considering this was a first for me, I am relatively happy with the way things turned out.  But there is so much room for improvements and I cannot wait to do this again at future shows to apply some of the things I have learned from my mistakes.  I consider myself about 50% of the way to where I would like to be in terms of overall "quality" of the videos.  

If you find the time to watch the videos, I would greatly appreciate if you could take a minute to share with me some of your impressions.  Is the music a distraction?  Is it too loud or too soft?  Are the voices loud enough?  Are the videos too short or too long?  Which videos are your favourites? etc.  Thank you!

Please be warned that all videos start with a very similar introduction that lasts about 20-25 seconds.  I changed the timings in order for the intro to go with the music but other than that, I used the same footage (train, people walking, etc).

General Highlights

On day 1, I had no appointments with vendors and my goal was to walk around, get familiar with the venue and grab some footage of whatever attracted my attention in order to make a general highlights video.  At first and maybe for the first hour, I felt overwhelmed and somewhat paralysed by the size (HUGE!) of the event and venue.  With more than 1000 exhibits spread across 6 gigantic rooms, I needed a plan.  I eventually got my mojo and stopped feeling intimidated by the attention that I was attracting with my camera.  Here is a montage of the footage that I captured.


Booths (exhibits) Highlights

On day 2 and 3, I had several appointments with many different vendors at their booths.  It was a real marathon as I walked and walked from booth to booth with all my gear.  I am not complaining, it was fun!  But at the end of the day, I was completely exhausted (and jet lagged!).  Here are the videos I was able to produce from the footage I recorded at the booths.

Texas Instruments

Cypress Semiconductors


NXP


Atollic


SYSGO

SYSGO took a 'making-of' photo and tweeted it:


National Instruments


Percepio


Mender.io


Jacob Beningo

Finally, I asked Jacob (EmbeddedRelated blogger among other things) if he would be willing to share some of his impressions of Embedded World 2017 in front of my camera and he agreed!  Next time Jacob, I will make sure not to cut your head and we will use a better angle - thanks for agreeing to do this!


Your impressions?

So, what do you think?  What should I do differently next time to make those videos more effective, more entertaining, more informative?  I have several ideas but I am curious to know what you think. 

Thanks for watching and please consider subscribing to the Youtube channel and 'liking' (thumbs up) as many videos as you can - this would be very helpful!



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Comment by MatthewEshlemanApril 5, 2017

Awesome! Thank you! Now... how do I plan a trip to this conference next year! :-)


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Comment by stephanebApril 5, 2017

Thanks for the good words Matthew!  If you've never been to Embedded World, you will be impressed.  I should write a blog post later this year to give a few tips to those who plan on attending.  And for next year, I hope to be able to organise a 'For Engineers Only: Beers and Sausages Party'.

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Comment by MatthewEshlemanApril 5, 2017

Beer and Sausage...  I am suddenly hungry and thirsty. Sounds like fun! Hope I can make it!

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Comment by Rick LyonsApril 6, 2017

Hi Stephane.  Your videos look very professionally-produced. Great job.  Stephane, you rock!

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Comment by stephanebApril 6, 2017

Thanks Rick!  Your good words mean a lot to me.

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Comment by madanjouApril 7, 2017

Really impressive Stephane and quite entertaining. Truly amazing for someone that just started doing this kind of work. It also looks like you have a true gift for making people confortable during interviews. This is essential and was obvious in all clips. While there is always room for technical improvement, you already have what it takes. You show a great sense of observation and know how to use rythme in your edits. I like your animation, intro and selection of music. Most scenes were nicely lit and colors reasonably well balanced, considering the challenge of getting these shots solo in such a s difficult environment! Great job :-).

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Comment by stephanebApril 9, 2017

Thanks a lot @madanjou for the thoughtful comment and for taking the time to write it!       

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Comment by beningjwApril 11, 2017

These are excellent! They look and sound great and have interesting material that is very informative. 

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Comment by stephanebApril 14, 2017

Thanks Jacob!

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Comment by applelovingApril 13, 2017

thank you Stephane! excellent videos! professional grade! really enjoyed it..

Jeff

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Comment by stephanebApril 14, 2017

Thanks for the comment Jeff!

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Comment by lesemptageApril 16, 2017
Brilliant and informative! The length of the videos are just right for me and the content provided is sufficient to let me know if I want to delve a bit deeper.

The intro's were a few seconds too long as I got impatient and moved the play bar on a bit to the start of the content. (Then I wasted the few seconds gained by having to move it back again to catch everything the speaker had to say*~X( at wits' end)

Overall very good and I look forward to your next offerings - Thank you.

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Comment by stephanebApril 18, 2017

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this comment.  I agree that the intro might be a little too long, especially if one goes through more than one video, it becomes repetitive.  


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Comment by GordApril 20, 2017

Very nice videos.  Almost like I was there.

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Comment by stephanebApril 21, 2017

I appreciate the comment Gord - thank you.

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Comment by dronzApril 13, 2017

It's really great! Thanks from everyone who was not there.

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Comment by stephanebApril 14, 2017

Thanks a lot @dronz

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Comment by bytesplayApril 25, 2017

All the videos are so informative.

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Comment by nuriaordunaMay 17, 2017

Hey Stephane, well done with the videos!

I remember when I went to the Embedded World maybe in 2007...? I was still at uni and I manage to win one of those little debugging competitions :D

I will keep an eye on your post for the visit next year! I should definitely go back now that I am an actual Engineer ;)

Núria

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Comment by stephanebMay 17, 2017

Thanks Nuria - hopefully we can meet in person next year at Embedded World, that would be fun.  Take care!

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Comment by nuriaordunaMay 18, 2017

Yes, that would be good! :)

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