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How Tom Scott Makes Videos

June 03, 2022 / 01:07:09

This episode of the Waveform podcast features guest Tom Scott, a popular YouTuber known for his diverse content. Topics discussed include his unique video-making process, the challenges of creating engaging titles, and the evolution of content creation on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Tom Scott shares insights about his background, his competitive nature, and how he approaches video production. He explains the difficulty of categorizing his channel, which covers a wide range of subjects, from technology to infrastructure.

The conversation touches on the differences between scripted and unscripted content, with both hosts discussing their experiences and preferences in video creation. They also explore the impact of social media algorithms on content visibility and audience engagement.

Additionally, they discuss the challenges of reviewing products like cars and the importance of understanding the audience's needs. The episode concludes with a light-hearted segment where Tom participates in a typing challenge, showcasing his competitive spirit.

TL;DR

Tom Scott discusses his YouTube journey, video-making process, and the challenges of engaging audiences in this episode of Waveform podcast.

Episode

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[Music]
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what's going on people of the internet welcome back to another episode of the waveform podcast we're your hosts I'm Marquez and I'm Andrew and on this
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episode we have a guest one of my favorite creators yes I'm very excited it was a long time coming but we got him
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in the studio he's not from the US so it really was a long time coming but Tom Scott joins us um he's a one of my
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favorite YouTubers and uh has over 5 million subscribers so you've probably heard of him at some point but it is
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kind of hard to describe his channel it's very hard to describe some of his most recent video titles include I rode
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a giant mechanical elephant you can to great video by the way really good video
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uh how does Britain know what time it is just a great video to click um he also
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has a video called this video has 53,6 199,00 views and it does in fact have
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53,6 n971 views so we talk about the wild variety of things that he does on
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his channel and sort of categorize it and talk about how he makes videos we also talk about his process and uh turns
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out he's also super competitive he's hyper competitive and we found that out firsthand on this episode and it was it
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was a good time overall so definitely buckle up enjoy it's a fun conversation
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and let's just jump right in hello Tom Scott is joining us for way for this week welcome Tom thanks for joining
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thanks for having me on we appreciate it we were just talking for a second about the temperature yesterday and you said it was 36° it it was and I was like
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where were you um but that was Celsius and I now have to calibrate exactly what high
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highs I'm I'm not built for that it was yesterday so uh so you're from from
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Europe yes where would you say you're from right now cuz we talking about that
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too H I am traveling so much at the minute that I am not entirely sure it is
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lovely to finally be out on the road and like I'm bringing packs of lateral slow tests with me and I'm being really
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careful where I go it feels strange to me to be without masks in a podcast
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Studio I know we're tested we we check all that but after two plus years of this and being so careful it's it's
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lovely to be back out I I seem to be way more careful than a lot of people are though cuz all over Europe all over the
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bits of the US I've seen here like there's there's a lot of indoor dining there's levels to it there's for sure levels to it like I'll go somewhere
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where everyone is wearing a mask and I'll go somewhere in the same town where no one is wearing a mask it's it's it's
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a huge variety here yeah but I I wanted to talk to you for a long time I I've watched your videos for a long time well
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likewise we we I mean we'll save the mutual admiration societ for a while but um my favorite question to ask fellow
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creators is how do you explain what you do to people who don't
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know so I mean it depends if if I know you did a video on this like if you're in the back of back of a cab and someone
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asks what do you do um I mean the the easy out the easy out is I I run a video production company which is what I do um
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other than that I am basically a TV presenter from the '90s at this point like I I grew up watching the four
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channels that were available and I seem to to infuse a lot of that into what I
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do because I think I I grew up in the age of linear television in the age of of content that unless you specifically
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video recorded something and saved it you would never get to see again and
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there's still quite a lot of sensibility of that in my head and I sometimes find a disconnect between myself and is it
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too patronizing to say the kids um the kids the kids who grew up with the
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internet from birth with YouTube from birth now living in a world where almost
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any media you want is available on demand um either through someone
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illegally uploading it to YouTube because it's 20 years old it's not in Content ID to anyam service to anything
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like that to to uh what I assume is still piracy going on you know I remember the days of turrent trackers
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and all that I assume they're still going but we now have a world where it seems to be streaming for most stuff
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yeah so you feel like a sort of like a host on your channel but you I mean your videos if I were to just open up your
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Channel right now and just start scrolling through video titles it's all over the map like there's I have a I
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make it I have a theme it's Tech videos so like you know Tech products come out I can explain that to people I I review
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and talk talk about the newest technology it's like okay that's sort of a concise thing if I were to try to
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explain your channel to someone who hasn't seen it I might start with uh
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what was the last video about it was I don't remember NOA this is like I I will
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occasionally get someone asking me about a specific thing I've done in the past I've got no memory none at all what what
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I would like to run is the kind of 1990s uh fact and so factual entertainment um
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magazine aine show would would be the term in the UK which is in the same manner that you would you would look through a magazine and there is an
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article on this an article on that an article and maybe you're not interested in everything but you want you know the writing that goes into you know you know
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the the style most of it is is going to be something you're interested in and because that was appointment to view
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television then you would tune in for the show um I think the the the example
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that sticks my head is the BBC uh and then a loot of other broadcasters had a show called Coast for a while in the mid
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2000s I want to say which was just it was stories about the coast of Britain
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and one of them in each episode might be uh about biology which is is not generally something that okay it's some
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fish I'm not interested and then it might be okay here's here's a bit of archaeology that's this old
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infrastructure thing for like oh brilliant that's what I'm interested in right but I would watch the thing about the fish because it was in the show I
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knew that the show was going to be good and I like that brand and I feel like that's
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what I'm trying to imitate ideally I would be putting out half hour shows that cover three or four things but the
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medium has changed right that's not what YouTube wants that's not what the the End Time medium is set up for and you
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have to adjust your content to fit the medium that's not a complaint it's just a fact so in a world where you have to
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clickbait every title and thumbnail what I'm doing is is taking the sections from what would be that magazine show okay
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and now now I can't do the thing about the fish I mean I still can but if I do
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fewer people will watch it they're going to channel flip immediately to something else to use the 9s analogy and I guess I
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I'm not saying that it was better then because it's really easy to get nostalgic for things that were that were obviously worse you know it is it is
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obviously a much better thing that we have access to so much more Vari and so much more variety so many more
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perspectives so much more information more information is is always a good thing yeah uh don't hold me to that I'll
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find example to that at some point more information is generally a good thing um
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but at the same time it's really easy to get in that that kind of idea of I can
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only do this now that happened to me during during the pandemic I I now do four to five minute videos MH generally
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about interesting things in the world okay that's I think key because I I think when I see your channel I would I
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would argue you could do the video about fish and I would watch it because I I did uh know it's a Tom Scott video but I
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had to title it it's like a spaceship for sharks yes and I will watch that because I know somehow Tom Scott is
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going to tie this together and make this actually work I talked about the infrastructure it was filmed at an
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aquarium MH but I made the analogy to a spaceship and to life support systems because you are taking these creatures
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that are way outside the natural habitat putting them in a thing with a wall on and maintaining a higher pressure
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environment that if it breaks they'll die that's a spaceship that's just like a spaceship um but how do you sell that
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to an audience where if you say this is about fish they're going to click on any of the other dozen things that are in
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there right I think that might be one of the things that weirdly Tik Tok sort of
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solves and short sort of solves because you just get served things and as long as you can make that argument in the
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first three four seconds you don't need to click you need to clickbait the start of your video that's a different type of bait but that's a different type of bait
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yeah I mean Tik Tok terrifies me you know I love TI to do you so do you do you
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make Tik toac at all no I responded I responded to shorts by starting a new channel where everything's four times as
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long and looks like a really 90s TV show so I no I didn't because I it's I feel
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weird talking this much by the way I'm going to say this that i' I've learned over I've realized that's what I'm here for like I'm the guest on this and I
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keep having I am talking too much should I I should be asking questions this is not my job here this is no we love this
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this is um I I like talking to creators because i' I always find that we have a lot in common and we always have
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different parts where we might diverge on either how we approach something or or how we create probably my my second
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favorite question to ask is like how do you make a video which is probably even more interesting for you because there's
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such a variety of topics you mentioned it's interesting things or or interesting topics that you care about
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right so that might be anything um there's a lot of by the way infrastructure it's mostly infrastructure so there is a wonderful
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Channel by a friend of mine called Evan uh who runs a channel called Rare Earth uh he's been a guest on my channel
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before he is interested in people so he makes videos about people he so makes videos about people and humanity and the
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things that we do to each other quite like he takes he takes to some very dark places um whereas I seem to be
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interested in things and that's that's how my brain works and I'm sure someone could do a huge amount of of
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psychoanalysis on that to to find out but ultimately people make I think sustainable channels on whatever medium
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that is make videos about the things they're interested in absolutely if you
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have a popular Channel but it's something you're not interested in I suspect it wouldn't survive that long yep it's that's how that's how burnout
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happens it's also interesting though because like when we talk about or when people talk about channels being successful they say find a niche your
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Niche is things which is like the least Niche thing possible and they didn't used to be it used to be that the
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channel had my name on it and it was just G to be about whatever I'm
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interested in and there was all sorts of stuff there was game show stuff and there was all sorts of things and that
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is not how YouTube works in the 20s which is a bit frustrating again
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magazine show but and I feel like again shorts is a thing where you get to experiment more with that
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because terrifying as it is it polls your audience and the wider audience in
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the first few minutes finds the niche for that video and then goes from there yeah I me what
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are your experiences with it this is this is what I'm asking creators that I meet as someone who hasn't gone into that world because it feels like a whole
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lot of effort I don't have brain space for to learn a new medium right okay it is fascinating so I have a bunch of
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thoughts on it and to sort of tie it to what you mentioned my channel is about tech so I do feel an obligation with
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whatever video I make next to have some sort of tech in it we just talked about how I'm I'm reviewing a new car for top
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here there's usually some sort of tech in every possible thing whether it's an
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electric car or a high-tech car or a hybrid power train and this one's a mayback and I'm thinking this might be
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the least Tech Car how do I bring Tech in this to find a way for me to be the
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one talking about it um but with short form content like you said each individual video gets its own exposure
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to whatever so people aren't necessarily subscribing to a shorts Channel or subscribing to that shorts experience
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but they're just scrolling through their feed and it gets served to them and so I found while I do make an effort to make
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Tech related shorts I have found uh you can experiment way more and often find
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success if you make a good native video and something you really care about it will find that audience um that being
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said the most viewed piece of content we've ever made was a flip phone it was
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just the LG Wing just flipping it open yeah has 40 million views on Tik Tok and I just guess how long is that video it's
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like 30 seconds not even not even we shot it in probably 5 minutes and that's but I think that's kind of interesting
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there are there are things we find really interesting sometimes where the interesting thing is only about a minute
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long I mean like sometimes it's not worth a full video that's where we found that to I reject video yeah I I reject
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video ideas for that reason I maybe 30 seconds in there I'm just realized that that's probably probably good way of
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doing it but then I put the effort in and I hate to sound mercenary about this
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there is not much return there other than being able to promote the channels
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where you make money I hate to have the the full mercenary attitude to that there is not a sustainable monetization
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option for shorts yet there wasn't there wasn't for YouTube in the early days either um but if you're only producing
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10 20 seconds of content then you are not going to get as much back from that anyway I think someone told us most
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ticktockers want to become YouTubers because the same with Vine it was exactly the same with Vine look at some
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of the biggest YouTubers right now they were Vine artists because there is no monetization there and like I'd say we
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we spend the time making shorts and all that but exactly like you said that is for it because its algorithm is so good
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to hit an audience that we're hoping some of that brings it back to where we're creating content yeah I I created
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a separate shorts Channel and I I get asked a lot of times why I created a separate channel for it because honestly
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the better uh ecosystem decision probably would be to do occasional
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shorts on the main Channel because what I've always found is those will just be super low effort super short time they
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will find an audience and just bring in new subscribers to the thing that actually makes the money yeah uh so if I
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put them in a separate Silo on a shorts Channel they're just going to be in a separate Silo on somewhere that doesn't
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make money um so whether or not that was a good business decision we have yet to see because I'm still experimenting with
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shorts but um you know I've done one short on the main Channel and it was an iPhone a green iPhone unboxing like how
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long could you possibly talk about a new phone color right like green it's green here it is so yeah 12 seconds there it
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is yeah um but that's you know my experiments with with shorts are not over I'm very I'm very curious about the
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future of that I I want to talk about the mayback that you've got at the minute just because how are you making
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that a technology video if that's what you're going to do cuz I would absolutely anytime I'm I'm looking at
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car reviews anything like that the the thing that I actually want to know is someone who doesn't really care that much about engines and things like that
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is not um it's not how fast does it go it's not how how comfortable the ride is
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it's is this entertainment system going to annoy me for every minute I'm in this car I think the answer is yes for most
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is the adaptive cruise control going to actually work or am I going to have to guide it along as it breaks too late all
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the time yeah and it doesn't feel like that's what most reviewers are going for but then my my concerns about cars are
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probably not those that most of the public have I love this this question so first of all the the mayback is for uh
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Top Gear which I write a column for so I won't even be making a video about it I'm just going to be writing a column for him nice but I have made a bunch of
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car videos and that is always a question of like how does my car perspective fit
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into the world of car videos and I watch a lot of car videos and a lot of them are just like you described driving
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Dynamics handling power acceleration we're going to do a drag test now now
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we're going to do a stopping test now we're going to do a cornering test I'm going to be doing 55 down a Motorway I don't like the actual ownership
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experience is very different so for a lot of these high-tech cars and maybe I'm a little guilty because I've done a little bit of like the the Supercar
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world and that's what people really care about in that world but when you're buying something I try to put it in your
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hands through the camera I try to actually let you sort of own it hold it use it and for a car it's driving around
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on regular streets it's going grocery shopping it's dropping people off it's a car poool it's a road trip and that's
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what I want to be able to give people for like regular cars yeah you did the EV road trip didn't you we did the EV
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road trip just like what is it like to charge an electric vehicle for a th mile trip versus a gas car when your country
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doesn't have a National Standard charging connector it's really interesting to actually go through that process and figure that out so yeah for
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the mayback for something like that it's like all right I don't know for people who are going to actually buy this
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$190,000 Mercedes in disguise what do they actually care about when they're going to buy it for some of them
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it is the infotainment system I will talk about that for some of them it is what's it like in the back seat and I'll
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talk about that uh but that's a unique challenge for a product Reviewer is talking to the exact person who wants to
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buy that thing right figuring out who it is before you even talk about the product and everyone has different requirements yeah every product has
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different requirements yeah like I'll review a phone and it's like I if I review the iPhone that's one audience if
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I review the Rog phone 6 I could talk about it the same way as the iPhone but it's it's going to be
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lost on the people who actually want to buy the r phone 6 so you have to sort of adapt to the language I'm not sure
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there's many of those people there's well that's exactly right it's a very small subset of those people and they're over here so they care about performance
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and gaming and and clock speeds and things like that frames per second but uh yeah that is a challenge of talking
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about products I think I think we found that to be pretty cons especially when it's a product kind of like that is in
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our range because it's technology but also kind of isn't in our range and it's hard to see a lot of comments being like
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stay away from Cars stick to this but like that's the thing but like I love hearing you say like you're watching a video like that because you are
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interested in a car that you're going to drive but you're not interested in it from a mechanical standpoint or something the first thing I do when I
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get into a rental car is right how do I plug my phone in here how do I get carplay working oh God how does this
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cruise control system work why can I only test this when I'm going at speed how I I shouldn't have to learn a user
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interface exactly at 50 miles an hour yeah um you know I would argue there should
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be a standard on that but there isn't um as someone who very much likes a a car
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that can just basically drive itself on on motorways MH finding that every model
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performs differently everyone will hold slightly different position in the lane have a slightly different or completely
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different uh interface to deal with it's I don't think a review would
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help with that you just have to find ones no this is what makes me want to start a car Channel this is what makes me want to start like I I review phones
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kind of in this Uber detailed way where it's like I know about using a smartphone because I've tested and
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reviewed and used can I say thousands it's been hundreds at least probably thousand it might be thousands of phones
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um and now as I slowly grow my fleet of cars that I've tested I'm
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developing the same things I'm like wow this one sort of bounces back and forth between the lane lines when I'm increas control oh this one just sort of holds
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on the left side and sort of Wiggle when I pass a car like that's kind of weird like these things you notice that you don't really put in the car video
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because a car video on YouTube is supposed to be one thing yeah and when you vary from that they go you don't
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know cars you're not doing a good car video so I want to make I want to yeah that's no you want you want a car video
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for the commuter yeah for y you're going to be driving X miles in this every day
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back and forth what's that like here's what it's really like yeah yeah there you go that's a free idea for someone if you're not taking it I love it let's
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take a quick break and we'll come back and we'll talk more YouTube
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stuff I actually I actually have a question I can you want to start on creation stuff um one of the questions I
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have for people who make long form like this is uh your shooting ratio is the
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wrong term for podcast I guess but the the time you record versus the amount
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you publish right so I I used to show called citation needed with some friends which was just just sitting around with
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friends again I used to do very different things and it was possible to do that um and that found an audience
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but these days if you're launching something like that you'd have to fit the medium anyway point being we shot
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probably about two to three times what went into the show we dropped any slow
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bits we we kept the funny bits we looked far better than we were because as as
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anyone who attended the live shows will know we looked we were because following BBC Radio comedy and
00:21:03
everything like that you record so much and you then you put in a show trim trim
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yep what's your approach to doing that so immediately when you brought that up I I I got this little like scale in my
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head um of the type of content and where it would fall on the scale if if we go
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from a scale of 1 to 10 one being we use everything we shoot 10 being we trim
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most of what we shoot um a one is the podcast right it's uh especially because
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with the podcast we'll also trim clips out and those will also be published so it's like a great ratio somewhere in in
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like the three range is the bread and butter smartphone videos I write them I
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know them super well I I every single shot where we'll go into the shot and we'll start shooting something I'm like
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we're not going to use this like we don't need to shoot this and we know very quickly what to shoot and what not to shoot we get higher towards like the
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sixes with car videos because we'll shoot just a ton of rolling shots like
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we just got a ton of shots of the car it's driving here let's get another shot of it driving I think I remember reading that The Grand Tour has something like a
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2000 to1 shooting RTI or something they' got like seven cameras rolling all the time I mean when I'm talking about that
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for podcast I'm not counting like the three cameras we've got here as like sure sure sure just just in terms of of time of time right exactly yeah I think
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we shoot a lot of time for the for the car stuff and those end up being trimed a lot and then I actually see on the
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furthest end of the spectrum at like a nine is when we shot retro Tech which was a a YouTube original series oh cuz
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that was TV style exactly that was with a production company with a TV style producer so we we shot for six weeks for
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six episodes wow so there was quite a bit of things that we either didn't use at all or use 90 seconds out of three
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hours or or people flew in and we ended up you know making it bonus content or whatever there's a lot of that so that's
00:22:57
sort of the scale in my head I think aim for like a three yeah on a good day I don't know about what is your what is your typical ratio uh on the on the
00:23:05
channel that's just got my name on it yeah um probably about a three on that scale I'd say because there's a lot of
00:23:12
cut down interviews and those obviously you're taking 20 minutes and cutting it down to to two but I'm going in with a script
00:23:19
where I've got hopefully every word written at Advance you fully script everything we have to ask this question
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because hopefully there should be no surprises go in and there's uh Destin who runs smarter every day who has the
00:23:32
exact opposite approach as far as I can tell he goes in gets the interview goes around does the and then packages it up
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afterwards tells the story afterwards and that's a lovely approach and it does not fit with the way my brain works it's
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a different skill um I I don't like cutting down anything I I I don't like
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looking at my own incompetence so like cool get that recorded get that done get the interview get the b-roll get my
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piece of camera mhm tick tick tick job done I always like the ones where I I break away from that script um there's
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one in production right now uh from France where yeah act two and three the
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script just says see what happens yeah but that's always a nightmare for my editor so the the cost goes from
00:24:16
Research into production so that's that's the the I can't call it the main
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Channel anymore because I'm not sure it isir the Channel with my name on it it's funny you said it goes the cost goes
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from research to production but also the time go from research to production so as if as I've been the editor for the
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last 10 years it's like I prefer to plan everything and know exactly what we're
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going to shoot but then there are some things where like I'm just going to need someone to explain this to me and then
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I'll cut it down and there are some things where it's like let's just try it and see what happens and I always feel like those you feel pressure to get
00:24:53
something out of it otherwise it's a waste of time right uh those are interesting but uh I think you were going to ask about well I was scripting
00:24:59
right yeah scripting like your videos are insanely impressive with the scripting and how you fit it with I
00:25:06
think this is luck that I have by by no design of my own I write in roughly the
00:25:12
same way I talk I can write in my own voice MH so that's a skill what I'm doing is
00:25:19
just researching like I will have 50 tabs open long documents open skim skim
00:25:25
notes notes notes and I just start writing I put paragraph together and move things around and I've got a script
00:25:31
um that's that I hate to say that's all there is to it like that's that's the one the one skill I've got the one
00:25:37
actual skill is taking a thousand pages of content and turning them into four paragraphs that tell a story or
00:25:43
occasionally like half an hour that tells a story that's that's the one thing I can do and then over on on the
00:25:49
the plus Channel which increasingly that sounds like it's a second Channel and and it's becoming the main one but in
00:25:55
that case that is unscripted to the extent that some times I don't really know what I'm going into I know what the
00:26:01
top line is MH um I I know I'm going to a farm and it's going to be something
00:26:08
about hering sheep and literally that's all I knew going into that video and then I spend a morning learning sheep
00:26:15
hering and learning with someone who is is's really good at it and who can show
00:26:20
off their skill and I can I can show off someone else's Talent OR learn a thing
00:26:28
that that's really been quite uh a different experience for me and a really rewarding experience for me um but I'm
00:26:35
aware that the only reason that exists the only reason that that basically I have become and this reference will not
00:26:40
land for anyone in this room the only reason I've basically become a blue Peter presenter is that I have the old
00:26:48
Channel which means that people are following me as a person which is something I'm generally uncomfortable with um and it's the reason that the the
00:26:55
channel is about working with others and learning from others generally as opposed to it being about
00:27:01
me you'll notice that I have evaded almost all the questions about history
00:27:07
and workflow by changing it to being about you or about something else which is what I always do I think I was I I
00:27:14
tend to divide YouTubers into like type A type B in so many different ways and I
00:27:20
think we were just touching on one which is like scripted or unscripted and in
00:27:25
Tech most of us are very scripted and I think most of us want to try to
00:27:31
also do unscripted stuff so we'll do like unboxing stuff or conversations podcast about
00:27:38
such a different skill and it's it's a different skill and it's it's kind of fun to like break out of that I know
00:27:43
from University radio many many years ago that I am bad at solo unscripted MH
00:27:49
just I'm bad at it fine if I've got some people to bounce off but solo un script is is not a thing I can do it's a it's a
00:27:56
could I spend years building that skill up as well yeah I could but anything I do is now very public and you you can't
00:28:03
launch a thing learn in public is right right I mean you can as long as no one's really watching right here's another
00:28:09
type A type B uses a teleprompter doesn't use a teleprompter you're 100%
00:28:15
prompter you do yeah of course yeah I couldn't tell really like you're good at reading from a teleprompter I think some
00:28:21
of the situations you're in make it very like when you're walking around I think the last video it did was on a
00:28:26
mechanical El let's say it's 100% scripted that's uh that's a better way
00:28:32
of putting it but I don't enjoy learning lines like you you've written it all so you know it very well but then as far as
00:28:38
like actually reading from let's say a teleprompter on the lens you can sort of look away and make it feel natural
00:28:44
because I write like I speak so a lot of times that's not acting as a prompter
00:28:50
it's acting as uh a guide a guide I can move a few words around and know it'll
00:28:56
still work can recover occasionally from going off on a tangent coming back
00:29:02
speeding up my voice a little bit so I can get in and all right y I'm back with the words now yeah uh but the reason
00:29:08
that I I have to do that is if I get a fact wrong everyone will call me on it
00:29:13
uh and there will be note on my another note on my corrections page I once I was filming many years ago at the top of a
00:29:19
wind turbine and I accidentally said thousands instead of hundreds or something like that the other way around
00:29:24
it's an obvious error there's nothing I can do about nowadays I could probably have an AI clone of my voice or cut away
00:29:31
and dub over I've had to do that before uh I forget what the line was I just said it completely wrong on location uh
00:29:39
I just just indefensible blunder just got the words completely wrong but I was
00:29:44
just kind of standing on a road somewhere so I went out to a similar
00:29:50
road with a similar thing put the microphone in the same position had an earpiece just repeating the line over to
00:29:56
me to match it dub the words in and it sounded close enough um there is a video uh I won't say which
00:30:04
one it is cu cu I don't want people to go looking for it um there was a video where I consistently mispronounced a
00:30:09
word like four or five times and I just um I just got two of the syllables the wrong way around no one called me on it
00:30:16
at the time I don't think anyone noticed at the time it's a fairly obscure word um what we did and the audio editor uh
00:30:25
just I I have so much so much respect for them because what we did is I went to a room about the same size I played
00:30:32
the line back I just I aded yeah I just said the line repeatedly correctly and
00:30:38
he just crossfaded between the two at the right moments and you cannot tell it
00:30:44
the lip movements don't actually quite match if you know what you're looking for yeah but no one's going to spot that
00:30:50
nobody's looking you can get away with a lot by just quietly cutting away yeah I think that's something sorry Ken I was
00:30:56
going to say we have that in common where like we're talking about things and if you get a fact wrong Everyone
00:31:01
likes to point out that the the fact about the thing was wrong like with tech that's like notorious like if you get a fact wrong and Teck um so I do write 95%
00:31:10
of what I'm saying and so what I'll do I've said this before I have all of my bullets and my paragraphs on my phone
00:31:16
and my phone is like in my lap or something on a table next to me and so I'll pick it up get the facts that I
00:31:21
need to get right put it down and deliver it so I can kind of Veer off and do a tangent and whatever and hopefully
00:31:26
none of those facts are wrong but as long as I hit those things I'm still fine but I've never been good at like actually like reading and then talking
00:31:34
and then seeing that the Lines Moving I I've I'm just terrible at that I look like I'm staring into a camera which is
00:31:39
not good uh so shout out to you for doing that super well yeah I think only the people who are making the
00:31:46
things really realize that that how how edited these things we're watching are I feel like every time I watch something I
00:31:52
am watching it in one half of my brain for the entertainment value and on the other half of my brain for how I think
00:31:57
they make there's a cut there's a cut there's a cut that was filmed at a completely different time what was um on the plane I watched um Hobs and Shaw The
00:32:05
Fast and Furious spin-off um because I would like to turn my brain off for two hours of this plain J why not there is a
00:32:11
scene at the power plant which is like which I thought was the ending of the movie and then it just keeps going like
00:32:17
it's just it's just a set piece in the middle and there's one point where they cut to the
00:32:22
characters and they've got bright sunlight on them and shadows which are present in none of the other scenes not
00:32:29
even close it's a cloudy day for everything apart from three Cuts why
00:32:35
what happened there yeah that is a what 78 n figure movie budget you
00:32:42
couldn't have reshot that don't somewhere it's a curse of being a like
00:32:48
Video Creator like I went to film school to too and just like watching movies that those little continuity mistakes
00:32:54
here and there are just like wait a minute and my wife hates when I scroll back I was like was wrong did you see
00:32:59
that you cut away from that character and then cut back just as they finish that line so that was done afterwards
00:33:05
because some exact went I don't understand what's going on here yeah yeah yeah yeah now that's that's a
00:33:11
that's a classic one would you find I'm interested in how you edit a lot of your stuff because a lot of it seems one take
00:33:18
there are multiple multiple I think the one I think of the most is the um the really bad roadway with the music in
00:33:25
California yes that felt like oh no that cuz obviously I am driving I cannot use
00:33:32
any sort of prompter uh no but I've got like five cameras on and and then I did
00:33:37
up and backs at the same speed enough times with enough GoPros I knew going in that that was going to be a nightmare
00:33:44
yeah so I just yeah is it cheating I don't know it feels like I would say if
00:33:49
you asked me I would have said you scripted that perfectly to get to it hit it turn back around cuz you can see you
00:33:55
making the u-turns going back around I honestly would have thought that was fun so kudos to editing and scripting and
00:34:01
everything on that video I think that was me editing as well I think that was me very well done I'm not sure apologies
00:34:06
to to apologies to the team if that wasn't me but uh all right I want to ask you a question about your your workflow
00:34:13
how you make videos just directly you have such a variety of topics do you
00:34:19
start with here's a thing I like I'm going to make a video or do you go backwards which is what I've learned a
00:34:25
lot of YouTubers do start with a a title and a thumbnail and go that's a video I
00:34:31
want to make and then go back and decide how to create that video because I've
00:34:36
done both at this point I find it more challenging sometimes to do one than the other but it depends on the topic for
00:34:43
the regular videos for the ones I'm known for yeah it's from the subject and out and so you make the whole video and
00:34:50
and then I have to come up with the down tile which is which is deeply frustrating again spaceship for sharks y
00:34:56
the only reason that I was able to do that video is I came up with the title which again really annoys me mhm but
00:35:01
that was the thing that made made me go okay yeah this works yeah and I have had to not do videos in the past because I'm
00:35:08
like there is there is no way to get people to click on this it's it's really
00:35:13
interesting if if they if they watch it it'd be great but I know they're not going to again YouTube versus magazine
00:35:20
show from the 90s however for longer form stuff um
00:35:26
particularly on on the plus Channel then yeah that can that can be driven by the title um okay the one a while back on uh
00:35:35
copyright from many years ago like YouTube's copyright system isn't broken the world's is oh that's a title I
00:35:42
remember that going from the title and going well yeah that's the thesis I want to make all right here we go time to
00:35:49
dive in yeah exactly yeah there's some videos sometimes where I'm like I think that you I think Tech YouTube deserves a
00:35:55
video with this title because this is the point that needs to be made now let
00:36:01
me reverse engineer my way of arriving to that point because I like to structure videos in a way that sort of land somewhere where you can get to the
00:36:08
title or get to the thesis um I'll tell I'll tell you a video that I I want to do but can't okay uh and I'm going to
00:36:15
throw this out because because by throwing this out here I will finally get the video out of my head and I don't have to I don't have to pour over this
00:36:21
on my ideas board I've got it out someone out there can have it m which is on content for kids on
00:36:30
YouTube not really being uh so we're not talking about like the the stuff from
00:36:35
years ago with like algorithmically generated Elsa and Spider-Man videos and we're not talking about stuff that is
00:36:41
for younger kids we're talking about stuff that's for so the ages maybe 9 to
00:36:47
13 that kind of age um if you ever looked at YouTube trending that'll show up there quite a lot and what SP so
00:36:55
there's a couple of reasons I don't want to do this first it would involve actively calling specific creators out I
00:37:01
could not tell the story without naming people and I don't want to do that I
00:37:06
don't think that's a fair thing to do certainly if if you're ever going to do that then the thing to do is do write of
00:37:11
reply you reach out to them you get their response to it like there's a whole ethical thing that you're required
00:37:16
to do that apparently is mostly ignored on YouTube but like basic ethics you reach out you get the response I don't
00:37:23
do that I don't want to do that I don't want to name this is the problem but in for the the examples I know I would have to specifically go this is the problem
00:37:30
find doing that for television on the uh I did a video about advertising disclosures and I'm okay to call out I'm
00:37:36
okay to call out a television show because that is run by a corporation with a 100 employees I'm not I'm not
00:37:43
saying you there you have made the mistake most you operations I'll be I'll be pointing at a person and I don't it
00:37:49
also feels like punching up instead of punching down absolutely yeah so I know
00:37:54
setting setting that aside I would have to make specific examples maybe I could maybe I could like get someone to
00:38:00
animate but you're still talking about people and secondly I don't want to deal with the backlash from that audience you
00:38:05
know I don't want kids angrily I I don't want internet kids defending their
00:38:11
Heroes to come at me because you're not going to be able to reason with you're not going to be able to reason with any
00:38:17
internet crowd but it's just I don't want that hassle so this is this is what
00:38:22
this came from is comparing two videos and what was judged age restricted and
00:38:28
safe so again the title would be something like how safe is YouTube for children or something like that again so
00:38:35
your first comparison is to uh the TV I grew up with and to all the regulations that broadcast television has to have
00:38:41
for protection of kids and the one that that is in my head aside from all the stuff about sex and violence the obvious
00:38:47
ones there is one about uh imitable Behavior I might be using the right I might using the wrong word there
00:38:53
behavior that could be imitated yeah so the two videos I really want to compare neither of which like I endorse as a
00:39:00
thing just to be clear um there was a British YouTuber team about three years
00:39:06
ago I think now who are doing big uh just hurting themselves for views which like it's jackass it's a genre I have no
00:39:14
problem with that like grew up in there yeah yeah um he like the the title was
00:39:19
cementing my head inside a microwave Jesus it's not actually cement it's um I
00:39:25
think the US term is like spackle it's the stuff you put on fix drywall patches and like I'm like
00:39:32
I'm not going to call these guys out cuz the first 15 seconds of that video is some of the best editing I've ever seen
00:39:37
for coming up it's it's brilliantly done but obviously age restricted backlash
00:39:43
like no adverts on it absolutely like YouTube still has that up I think but obviously like that was a news story
00:39:50
because the fire brigade had to come and save his life because it went wrong yeah
00:39:55
it was it was a news story public apology like no ads anything like that
00:40:00
and that was in my head because I saw something on trending a few months ago which was and again I have to call out a
00:40:06
specific video here there's there's no I I don't want to imply that this is a deliberate thing this is I would read it
00:40:13
as folks who have no one in the loop who is saying this is maybe not something we
00:40:19
should do so I'm not I'm not going to I'm not going to criticize overly I'm criticizing the idea which was uh last
00:40:25
to escape concrete winds yeah and you've got three guys doing all
00:40:31
the the the the hyperactive cuts that has become common for
00:40:37
you pretending to be in setting concrete and it's clearly not because like that's
00:40:44
a like a Alkali burns like uh physical Burns because it's it's an exothermic
00:40:51
reaction that is obviously not real but they're playing it as real and
00:40:58
that's the sort of thing that would be completely utterly blocked from
00:41:04
broadcast at least in in any European country I don't know how the First Amendment affects that in the US but
00:41:09
certainly for for kids yeah um that like growing up we had uh the US term is
00:41:15
public service announcements we'd call them public information films about not playing on construction sites or with
00:41:20
construction equipment the idea that a show for kids teenagers anything like
00:41:25
that would encourage something like that is just no absolutely not you don't you
00:41:32
don't even if there's a million kids watching that and one of them now thinks that it's safe to play in concrete then
00:41:39
not only is that that a bad thing obviously because the kids's going to get hurt but also that's a a lawsuit in enormous liability for them just from a
00:41:46
a self from a purely selfish perspective for them ignoring the welfare of kids
00:41:52
that's a lawsuit waiting to happen but YouTube will happily serve
00:41:57
adverts on that that's suitable for everyone that's suitable for all ages and rather than the the overt worry that
00:42:03
this is clearly bad for kids there is this subtle thing of this is this so
00:42:09
that is sorry that was a long diversion um but there is a lot of stuff out there that is not obviously unsafe for
00:42:20
children but with a moment's thought that the algorithm doesn't have and that human reviewers generally don't have
00:42:25
time to have they'll be is this is this obviously a stunt is this uh H it's someone messing out in
00:42:31
some gray slime okay right we're fine there is a lot of stuff that could cause imitable Behavior I would love to make
00:42:37
that video like I can see like the copyright video like the advertising video I I have the structure of that in
00:42:42
my head it's 30 to 40 minutes long it's got a few jokes in there and a really nice conclusion and nope I'm not going
00:42:50
to call out specific people desite the fact we just kind of did but you know what I mean by that I'm not I'm not going to put someone's face in the
00:42:55
thumbnail um and they don't want to have to deal with a load of kids defending that crowd um
00:43:04
it's that sounds like a nerd City video doesn't it it does and that's someone who is absolutely up for that
00:43:12
fight you know I'm I'm just saying I totally get not wanting to you know
00:43:18
unleash that potential comment section because even in the the tech World here like I'd say most tech YouTubers are are
00:43:24
pretty close to each other there's not a lot of drama going on in here and yet I'll still see in comments people
00:43:30
attacking other creators or defending other creators on things that like there is absolutely nothing to defend get
00:43:36
maybe just two people had a different opinion like it's this whole parasocial relationships thing which like it feels
00:43:41
like there's been so much meta discourse about that now cuz I I did a
00:43:47
talk I'm sorry I'm going to name drop here I did a talk at the Royal Institution a few years ago which was
00:43:53
which which again sounds like a prison from a comic book but the Royal Institution is is like very very famous
00:44:01
uh scientific Society in London and had a whole section at the point where where parasocial relationships were starting
00:44:07
to become a mainstream concept that you you attach this person and defend them and my brain does not do that I just I
00:44:14
don't have that in my head I find it deeply uncomfortable when someone does that towards me and try to discourage it
00:44:19
as much as I possibly can MH but at the same time the second Channel's kind of
00:44:26
about that kind of what it's it's like built on like even even if you just go by the first channel and it's your name
00:44:32
it's my name and it's you're the host every time and so they come back expecting one thing to be common about
00:44:38
every single one of these videos is I get to see Tom do something um which is
00:44:43
why I'd love doing guest videos every January I didn't do them this year um I really enjoyed going yeah you know what
00:44:49
taking this week off here's another person yeah and despite the fact that these videos are frequently better than
00:44:56
the ones I'm doing um if the title's good yeah it'll work but you can see the regular audience not
00:45:02
coming back as often for that and that is something I'm not really comfortable
00:45:08
with like there are loads of people who handled that really well I mean how do you handle it because your channel is is
00:45:14
do you have a distinction between you as your name and you as MKBHD so yeah
00:45:20
definitely I I and it's very intentional uh there is a difference between what I
00:45:25
share publicly uh and what I experience and and it's a very limited slice that MKBHD is it's a
00:45:32
presentation of a limited slice of that um and that's on purpose now it is kind of cool still that I'll be you know I I
00:45:38
share the videos and the tech stuff and I'll see people in public and I'm like oh I've I bought this phone because of you like it's you know they feel that
00:45:45
attachment which is cool um and I do share sorry sorry I do also I I play a
00:45:52
sport which is a public Sport with Spectators and they will come to games and that cool too and some people will
00:45:59
even say they started playing the sport because they saw it in in you know all the channel or something like that which is cool um but yet is a very limited
00:46:06
slice of it specifically so that I cannot feel uncomfortable with anything because I did not share it exactly which
00:46:12
is why I'm always so cautious in interviews like this why again why I keep diverting the questions because I
00:46:18
am here as that public version of me like going back I I should have picked a
00:46:24
stage name uh by the time I realized that it was far too late um but ideally for anyone who starting
00:46:29
out on YouTube like number one pick a stage name I wish it was possible to pick a stage face I'm kind of slightly
00:46:36
envious of the people who are wearing masks and that's an interesting that is an interesting point but I suspect that's true for pretty much everyone
00:46:41
who's ever been in the public eye oh yeah well so there was a point on YouTube and this was maybe let's see
00:46:47
probably about three to four years into when I started making videos that I
00:46:52
decided actively not to show my face and I was making videos about devices my
00:46:58
hands were in it sometimes like I had I had videos of my face in the beginning and I was like no more face no more face
00:47:04
this will just be my voice in my hands and I would show gadgets and I would show devices and things like that and so
00:47:09
I went for like a full year or two without showing my face and I was like very happy with the fact that I you know
00:47:16
no matter how this goes there is some level of anonymity um which is really cool but
00:47:22
then it was much harder to make those like personal recomendations where
00:47:29
people can come back to an MKBHD video and know what to expect the thing that we do like so well so I went back to
00:47:38
a-roll showing my face and talking to a camera and it made a really big difference and people now knew what to
00:47:44
come back to so there it is a little bit of a balancing act where you know maybe someday in the future there'll be like a
00:47:50
deep fake version where I can like slightly alter my voice and face so like it'll be personal but not me um I mean
00:47:57
you you also see channels doing the management where they have had that presenter for a long time and then they
00:48:02
sort of start another person and start another person and it becomes the team over time I think that is very difficult
00:48:11
and especially if the name of the channel is already the first presenter it might just be doomed from that point
00:48:17
you know who's done that really well uh answer in progress that's a great as long as because it's answer in progress
00:48:22
and the name of the channel isn't it wasn't originally it's it's been steady change if that was three years ago that
00:48:28
was one person doing one thing and it's a whole brand shift that as far as I can
00:48:33
tell I I don't know but as far as I can tell that seems to be I mean it's three very clever people I think I if that's
00:48:40
not premeditated from the start I'll be very surprised and they've done it and they've come through the other end it can be
00:48:45
done maybe maybe not for me yeah yeah I think I think we're in the club of uh
00:48:51
you know people like uh lonus or uh I'm
00:48:56
just thinking of people who go by their name where minus did do it though he has multi uh multiple other hosts now I
00:49:03
would say he's in like a gray area where it's his name and people mostly come
00:49:08
back for him but he does have some other hosts that do well and do I think he
00:49:15
could leave that channel and it would have the same feel and still be called lus Ty tips I don't know that's strategy
00:49:23
that's a long-term great area but again it's it's got that par social element uh do you know Dropout formerly College
00:49:29
Humor oh yeah yeah so they have basically pivoted to being a streaming service that is is basically parasocial
00:49:37
you know it's the same crew every time it's doing different formats but it's
00:49:42
it's about them and I think an approach for a lot of people would be we're going to do a patreon and host it on YouTube
00:49:49
whereas they have gone no we are a streaming service we're doing professional shows and there seems to be this
00:49:54
spectrum from it is one person you are supporting them to this is a brand and
00:50:01
this is what you come back for and this is the reputation and I would love to push more that way um yeah difficult
00:50:08
when you when you want those all right we're going to take a quick break we'll be right
00:50:16
back I don't want to put you on the spot too much here uh but I now have a channel that is about meeting other
00:50:23
people and collaborating with YouTubers or people with skills or companies or anything like that so what would you
00:50:30
pitch as that because obviously you have you have sport uh but there's not I'm not going to be able to do uh do an
00:50:36
ultimate frisbee match in like uh in like one day of filming right right what would what would you want to do for
00:50:43
something like that this is this is me saying come on the plus Channel but this is also me going what are you interested
00:50:48
in because I'm I'm using that as an excuse to get over fears that I've had to introduce things to other people and
00:50:53
to have things introduced to me what's what's on your bucket list list of I have not found an excuse to do that and
00:51:00
while while while you're thinking about that cuz cuz one of the things that I have is is there are things I want to do that I
00:51:06
don't have an excuse for I want to go and do this yeah I've got a couple it's
00:51:12
not a good video it's not a good thing I can't I can't reasonably expense this um
00:51:18
like what's what's on your list for stuff like that so I have like the the sort of core things that I I enjoy it's
00:51:24
the tech it's making videos the sports that I play but I also have these other
00:51:29
I've probably mentioned this at some point before these other couple random bucket list things where I really like
00:51:36
experiencing natural phenomenon like weather phenomenon um I've had I mean here we
00:51:42
get hurricane blizzard down south you get you know hurricane I've I've not yet
00:51:49
done two which are Cen a tornado yep I thought storm chasing was going to come
00:51:56
and and uh experience the Aurora Borealis I have not actually seen or heard it one of those is scarier than
00:52:02
the other for sure for sure terrified of electricity no I'm just kidding um and from a production perspective they a
00:52:09
complete pain in the ass because oh hard to capture those and not be in Mortal danger at least the first well either
00:52:14
either in Mortal danger or you need to see that there's a see the solar forecast and then drop everything and
00:52:22
travel many many miles those yeah okay I I mean I'll add I'll add storm chasing
00:52:28
to the list if it happens I'll let you know I was hoping you were going to pitch something that was going to be like in New Jersey that we the other
00:52:34
okay the other one is I do want to visit all 50 states but I have a hard time coming up with a reason for about 10 of
00:52:40
them so all right I all right let's 10 states tornado and Oklahoma might just
00:52:46
be the perfect like I've never been but like I got to see a tornado and like you know the great plans maybe there's a
00:52:51
reason there um but yeah I've I've gone to like I think I've been in 35 something like that states so yeah maybe
00:52:58
there's something there yeah have you I mean I assume how many states actually I should ask how many states of the United
00:53:05
States have you actually been to oh see see you added of the United States I
00:53:10
denial um I don't know I've uh not very many uh there's only a couple good ones I'm
00:53:18
just gonna be honest I'm just gonna be honesta Iowa is going to come for you so hard I've never been so I can't speak
00:53:24
for them but you know I know I know the on I like you know um I'm keeping my health shut on this one I'm not I'm not
00:53:31
going to risk offending an American stateum look Tom Scott's been in New Jersey we've got New Jersey Pride going like it's a good it's one of the good
00:53:36
ones first time I was in New Jersey um I was driving down one of the one of the big roads probably the turnpike I just
00:53:43
realized I was driving through the opening sequence of The Sopranos nice uh turn Yeah by luck had woke up this
00:53:49
morning by Alabama 3 on my phone all right I'm going to play that I'm going to cruise down here for a while this is
00:53:54
Yep this is yeah yeah see it's one of the good ones yeah um your channel you were just saying how you're like kind of
00:54:01
getting with other creators and going over fears and stuff like that has there been any one that you almost didn't do
00:54:07
because of how scared you were of it or or is there like a specific one that just like you really really were nervous
00:54:14
about before going into it yeah when uh when's this when's this podcast coming out is it Friday so maybe no it's it's
00:54:21
going to be in a week's time it's going to be the next video um I have had a phobia of rooll
00:54:27
coasters for a long long time I remember you saying something about that I think you mentioned uh you were on those Robo
00:54:33
coasters and I think you mentioned one in Seaside which is actually not too far so yeah there are a few places in the world where you can get on a robo
00:54:40
coaster which is a robot arm with two seats on the end um yeah what Seaside
00:54:46
it's a big industrial robot arm there's a couple in the US I think the ones in the UK have closed down now um there's
00:54:52
one in in I think Lego there's a lot in in Legoland in Denmark I think and there's definitely a couple in the US
00:54:58
they don't they didn't bothering it for this one it was just do you want to ride on robot arm we put two seats in a harness on the end and you got five
00:55:04
settings and setting five is like uh The Incredible Hulk uh swinging you around oh my god oh if you ever get the chance
00:55:10
do it I need to the thing I'm I'm particularly scared of is not stuff like that because over the years I've been able to do all sorts of adrenaline junky
00:55:16
things I've been scared by all of them MH but it's not a roller coaster which is the thing I'm actually scared of it
00:55:21
is that harnessed in no emergency stop no power or control you are just on a
00:55:27
track going MH and there is no way to stop this and that uh that for all my
00:55:35
life ever since I was young has been the thing I want to do and uh without giving away any spoilers uh yeah the next video
00:55:41
on the plus channel is is uh it's me and and the thing I'm collaborating with is the largest theme park in the UK and
00:55:48
that's diving right in yeah uh yeah yeah that was that was a lot and what
00:55:53
happened is you know months ago the crew went uh Tom yeah we've got this on the list do you want to do it I am sure that
00:56:01
is that is a problem for future me I know that's that's a psychology thing right you you ask someone do you want to
00:56:07
start uh putting money in a pension pot they go no you ask do you want to start in three months they go yeah absolutely
00:56:12
MH um you know same way F future me would future me will be fine with that you know yeah but once it's in the
00:56:19
calendar I would like problem I would like anyone who watches that video to know that none of that is acting I am
00:56:25
not overacting for the camera at any point that is just me that is just and
00:56:31
worryingly it is like actual me it's not it's not presenter Tom Scott presenter Tom Scott went away you can you can kind
00:56:38
of see the change happen from because we got to go behind the scenes uh I looking at the safety equipment and
00:56:46
doing a track walk will not make me feel better because the actual thing that I'm scared of is the drop mhm is that over
00:56:54
the O over the top stomach drop feeling that's thing I'm scared of so none of that helps you can sort of see me go
00:57:00
from oh yeah no this is great I'm doing behind the scenes infrastructure stuff oh yeah I can ask this question to me
00:57:07
just very scared me oh man that's that's gonna make it a great video I can already tell so obviously I have to ask
00:57:13
yeah what are you scared of that's a good question I was going to say like when you go from roller coaster
00:57:19
adrenaline level to like bumping up my brain just went straight to skydiving
00:57:25
which is theoretically about the same safety level oh as far as statistically you're
00:57:32
more likely to get injured skydiving yeah by the way fact like this is one of those facto I don't know if it's true
00:57:39
there is a story that the UK National Health Service uh makes a loss on
00:57:44
charity skydives because it costs more to the NHS to heal all the people who broken
00:57:51
legs that it does that it's raised all right well it's a little bit
00:57:57
different to roller coasters but having said that uh skydiving is one of the things I did when I was like 2021 uh
00:58:04
hated it stomach drop feeling hell of a way to find out you don't like Sky di hilarious um yeah but yeah uh whatever
00:58:12
it is that that you are scared like whatever it is that's that's in the back of your head that if you knew you were
00:58:18
meeting that or doing that in half an hour you would be freaking out that's where I was going into Alton Towers
00:58:24
going into the theme park because it is not a rational fear it is not something that I can just breathe and
00:58:30
get over it is it's a phobia right and uh but you
00:58:35
you legitimately yeah overcame it or would you say I would I'm not giving you any spoilers for that I will I will say
00:58:41
that the the crew had shooting scripts ready for he's got on the roller coaster
00:58:47
and he's not got on the roller coaster like that's awesome there were there were multiple branching paths available
00:58:54
there yeah to go back to a Tom Scott plus video real quick you did a collaboration with James Hoffman one of
00:59:00
my like favorite creators he's he's love you you'll be happy to know that he is just as lovely we've spoken a couple
00:59:05
times and he's sent us coffee and stuff he's he really is the best um you went into it you did not like coffee when you
00:59:11
were 14 and then I've never re-evaluated that because I don't really I think a lot of people do that I didn't start
00:59:16
drinking coffee till I was like 25 or something like and now I'm obsessed with it but um but anyways towards the end
00:59:22
you decided you did kind of like it at least you like the so you thought it was an experience are you drinking any since
00:59:29
then has it become a daily thing a weekly thing no but it's become a thing I can do socially you can do it which is
00:59:35
really nice that feels like what I unlocked from that was being in a coffee shop um one video comes to mind I was in
00:59:42
uh Scotland a while back and we're just meeting up beforehand we're just going for coffee and being able to go actually
00:59:50
yeah and I'll I'll get that as opposed to going can I just get a glass of tap water is it's quite nice social lub
00:59:57
thing to do and being able to unlock that skill is is is what I got out of that I haven't reached that l i was say
01:00:03
do you think James could conver Marquez we have had uh Peter McKinnon tried once but it was just like a latte from the
01:00:10
beastro down here which was not great I kind of want to see the full-blown you you were there for it was a half hour
01:00:16
video you went from the start of like it's it's a weird I mean he could sell
01:00:22
that as an experience I don't I don't think he wants to I would buy it I think I think that is an experience
01:00:28
like you don't like coffee let's work through this but there was also the possibility that I genuinely didn't like
01:00:33
coffee um I feel like it felt a bit like hot sauce or it's a bad comparison to
01:00:39
make I know in many many ways but this is something that is in in coffey's case
01:00:46
bitter and an espresso is I I think not a pleasant thing until
01:00:51
you get used to what you are experiencing and until you get used to
01:00:57
what to expect from it because yeah if you just here is an arbitrary bit of substance you don't see people like
01:01:03
looking at Nintendo switch cartridges with a bitter coating on them and going oh yeah no we would add other subtle flavors to this if that's how your
01:01:10
brain's reacting yeah um but it turns out that it's actually yeah I I see why
01:01:16
people like it it's still not a regular thing for me but for me it was it was unlocking that social experience that
01:01:22
made it worth it you're you're not a coffee person either yeah no I'm I also feel like my brain is very brutally
01:01:29
Analytical in that way where it was literally just like here taste this
01:01:34
substance I do not like this taste all right the end I don't like coffee like that's just how it went um yeah same
01:01:42
same with me yeah but then if if that was true there's a lot of stuff I didn't like as a kid that I wouldn't like now
01:01:47
so you know I hot sauce will happily work that was that was look have you
01:01:52
just done a thing with hot sauce our last episode was just hot sauce I was I was going to suggest that to
01:01:58
what you two do but I don't know after his second round I don't know if you'd want I'm 100% over that it's a lot I
01:02:05
mean if you ever get the chance to try the hot Ones hot sauces there we have them here afterwards if you want it oh
01:02:11
yeah we're abely do that that's a trip um it's a good time all right well I have I have one more question for you
01:02:18
and this might be a question uh I'm actually hoping you've never been asked before all right see now I'm worried now
01:02:24
I don't have a prepared response perfect okay even better uh how fast can you type the
01:02:29
alphabet Oh uh don't know but is this a is this a thing you test everyone on and
01:02:34
all right it sure is okay screen recording here we go okay see see it's a
01:02:40
MacBook keyboard wait so we do have a uh we have a mechanical keyboard and we have a chicklet style keyboard if you
01:02:46
prefer something else I mean what I'm tempted to do is bring my own laptop in I mean you can it's just a website I'm I'm going to bring my home laptop in
01:02:53
we'll we'll we'll take we'll we'll take a break sorry that's not my job but uh full size I'm expecting good things now
01:03:00
we'll see how this goes I have only just realized this this is your mouse uh
01:03:05
thank you for loaning the Mouse um cu cu I spilled water on my touchpad and I haven't got a warranty replacement yet um I have only just realized this is but
01:03:12
RGB Mouse which is ludicrous it's glowing it's beautiful okay so what we typically do is give people three shots
01:03:18
okay um and just FYI as you're typing if you mess up a letter it will not continue you have to hit every single
01:03:25
letter A through Z okay and that's the only rul you don't have to hit enter at the end CU sometimes that resets it but
01:03:31
all right let me uh I'm put my glasses on for this because I'm extremely
01:03:36
competitive I'm I'm going to move the microphone as well is that okay sorry to sorry to the sound Engineers can I all
01:03:44
right I was gonna point this at the keyboard but it's not turning so we'll just go with it so I uh first of all
01:03:50
what time am I trying to beat oh okay I no I love this so far you want to go I
01:03:56
competive as he okay I think you're looking at about four it's right around four is it Quinn number one I think
01:04:04
Quinn snaz from snaz definitely under five and above three oh my heart's going now I'm over competive oh man I wish you
01:04:10
had like a fitness track Rod or something and we have the stats up on
01:04:19
the 5.1 it's not good enough I want to put the mic on not it's not good enough I screwed up I screwed up W do you want
01:04:26
a reference to where you are with that you got three tries so this is try number two this is try number two wait
01:04:32
was that two or was are we going into two now no no that was one you're all right um get to Z that's it you said it
01:04:37
was 5.1 yeah so you're right between Jad from Radio Lab and Josh wle the creator
01:04:44
of Wordle oh I've got to beat that I've got be that all right here we go it would be fourth place all right
01:04:56
that sound 3555 there we go that you're almost a full second
01:05:03
ahead now first place that wasc do you want to go one more I mean yeah we'll
01:05:08
count fastest so CU I definitely I definitely had to retype something there there's a there's a big gap yeah WXYZ
01:05:14
yeah that's where I screwed up every time I'm interested you're going very fast does this feel it's weird typing
01:05:20
the alphabet right CU it's something you almost never do there's a couple times where one hand is doing everything and
01:05:25
um wow all right here we go hands are shaking now probably put
01:05:32
pressure on me NOP already went already went already
01:05:37
went I mean still 3.5 3.55 that's going to be that's going to
01:05:44
be on the leaderboard my friend a while seeing someone beating that but uh yeah I had one bit of luck there that
01:05:50
everything just I I still think I mistyped a w in there and just I reckon I reckon with effort I could get that
01:05:56
under three but it would be like 100 tries and that would be that would be the best uh well I am thoroughly
01:06:01
impressed with 3.55 on your second oh that's a relief that's a relief that feels like that feels like the Top Gear
01:06:07
lap that's we it all after we do need the physical board with like the magnets
01:06:12
eventually though there's something intimidating about that well that's a great way to end it Tom thank you for
01:06:19
joining me this up i' never forgive myself make sure to save the screen recording so we definitely have evidence
01:06:25
of it um I'm glad I witnessed the sub four SI that was well we'll come back
01:06:31
next week thank you for joining us we'll talk a lot more Tech next time I promise but this is way too much fun see you
01:06:36
guys later peace waveform is produced by Adam Molina and Ellis Roven we are partnered with VOX media and our inure
01:06:41
music was created by vain s [Music]
01:06:55
a
01:07:01
[Music]

Episode Highlights

  • Tom Scott Joins the Podcast
    The hosts welcome Tom Scott, a favorite creator with over 5 million subscribers.
    “I'm very excited it was a long time coming!”
    @ 00m 12s
    June 03, 2022
  • Navigating Content Creation
    Tom Scott shares insights on explaining his diverse content to others.
    “I run a video production company.”
    @ 02m 55s
    June 03, 2022
  • The Challenge of Car Reviews
    Andrew and Tom discuss the unique challenges of reviewing cars for everyday users.
    “I want to make a car video for the commuter.”
    @ 19m 52s
    June 03, 2022
  • The Art of Scripting
    Scripting videos can be a skill, allowing creators to write in their own voice.
    “I can write in my own voice.”
    @ 25m 12s
    June 03, 2022
  • The Challenge of Unscripted Content
    Unscripted videos present a different challenge, often leading to unpredictable outcomes.
    “Solo unscripted is not a thing I can do.”
    @ 27m 49s
    June 03, 2022
  • Navigating YouTube's Ethics
    Creators face ethical dilemmas when critiquing peers, especially in children's content.
    “I don't want to deal with the backlash from that audience.”
    @ 38m 05s
    June 03, 2022
  • The Challenge of Parasocial Relationships
    Tom Scott discusses the discomfort of parasocial relationships and how he discourages them.
    “I find it deeply uncomfortable when someone does that towards me.”
    @ 44m 14s
    June 03, 2022
  • Bucket List Adventures
    Tom shares his desire to experience natural phenomena like tornadoes and the Aurora Borealis.
    “I thought storm chasing was going to come and experience the Aurora Borealis.”
    @ 51m 56s
    June 03, 2022
  • Facing Fears at Theme Parks
    Tom Scott reveals his phobia of roller coasters and his upcoming collaboration with a theme park.
    “I am not overacting for the camera at any point that is just me.”
    @ 56m 25s
    June 03, 2022
  • Typing Challenge
    A competitive typing challenge unfolds, with attempts to beat a record time.
    “I reckon with effort I could get that under three!”
    @ 01h 05m 56s
    June 03, 2022
  • Final Thoughts
    The session wraps up with reflections on the fun and excitement of the challenge.
    “This is way too much fun!”
    @ 01h 06m 31s
    June 03, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • More information is generally a good thing.
    How Tom Scott Makes Videos
  • I want to make a car video for the commuter.
    How Tom Scott Makes Videos
  • I always feel like those you feel pressure to get something out of it.
    How Tom Scott Makes Videos
  • I find it deeply uncomfortable when someone does that towards me.
    How Tom Scott Makes Videos
  • I thought storm chasing was going to come and experience the Aurora Borealis.
    How Tom Scott Makes Videos
  • I'm extremely competitive!
    How Tom Scott Makes Videos

Key Moments

  • Guest Appearance01:16
  • Content Creation Insights02:55
  • Car Review Challenges19:52
  • Scripting vs. Unscripted27:20
  • Bucket List51:56
  • Typing Challenge1:03:12
  • Competitive Spirit1:03:31
  • Record Attempt1:04:44

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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