Skip to main content

Filming Myself Skateboarding - Finding a Balance and a Reliable Video Editor Phone App

Nose slide in the driveway.
I like filming myself skateboarding. The problem is I'm not interested enough in the filmmaking  process to film great shots or tell a compelling story each video to compensate for my lack of ability on a skateboard.

It's not that I'm bad at skateboarding, and I understand there is an audience of people who like to watch how other beginner (or aging relearner) skaters progress. I'm part of that audience.

As much as we love watching pro skaters video parts and competition runs, for many of us that level of skating isn't as relatable as watching someone going through the same struggle we're having with trying to land basic pop shove-its and kickflips.

I recently broke the drought of not making skateboard videos for the past six months by posting a new driveway skateboard session that I filmed, edited, and uploaded from my phone. You can watch it below.



This video would have had a bit more of a story had the bit in the middle, where I gave my initial thoughts on my new shoes, had not recorded without audio. I think I forgot to turn the external microphone back on. It's the first time I've used it with my phone, so it was bound to happen.

In case you're interested the $20 shoes with $5 insoles were really good to skate in. Comfortable right away. It'll be interesting to see how long they last the wear and tear of skateboarding.

As it stands the video ended up being more of the same. Though I did add a bit of sweeping and my warm up stretches for something completely new... oh, and I mentioned the Zazzle deck.

The reason I stopped filming videos is that it's no fun editing down skateboard footage to remove the boring bits between trying the same six or seven tricks over and over again. It's also not that interesting filming the same six or seven tricks over and over again. The tricks I'm trying to learn.

If I was more interested in filmmaking I know I could probably do a lot more but usually, when I go out to skate, I just want to skate. Skating is the one thing I can kind of do that doesn't require too much thinking outside the moment. All my focus is either on whatever trick I'm trying to learn or, just enjoying doing those few tricks I can do. As soon as I set up a camera it becomes about making content. Essentially I'm working and not really enjoying my skating.

Filming, editing, and uploading from my phone helps alleviate another issue, being tied even more to my desktop computer. It can be a little discouraging going out to skate knowing that I'm coming back with a few hours of editing being added to my workload.

Editing on my phone means I can be editing in the evenings while I'm watching TV or Netflix - which at least makes me feel better about my second screen activity being more productive than scanning social media. It's also nice to be more productive on any of my mobile devices because it shows I literally can work from almost anywhere.

It took a while to find some video editing software for my phone that was even halfway decent. Movavi makes the best app for one handed editing I've ever comes across. Unfortunately their app only lets you edit one project at a time. You can't save it, start a new project, save that, and then open up a previous project and continue working.

Worse is, that while you can keep a project open in the app, close the app, then come back to it later with your project just as you left it, on multiple occasions I reopened the app to be faced with projects I'd spent hours on just gone. Reset back to an empty document.

Movavi's app is a paid subscription. After losing all my work one too many times (another reason for why it's been so long for me making a new skate video) I cancelled the app and uninstalled it.

VlogU Video Editor.
The app I finally settled on is called VlogU. From what I gather it's a new entry into the field. It's not quite as good a user interface as Movavi's app for one hand editing but it's close enough, and it has more features.

What it does have going for it is you can save multiple projects. As well, it crashed a few times while I was making the video above - which wouldn't usually be a plus but each time I restarted the app, my project was still all there minus maybe the last one or two edits. Way better than losing everything for no apparent reason.

VlogU is a free app. It does watermark your video but this can be removed for each video if you take a moment to watch an ad. I was also able to upload directly to Youtube from the app too.

Anyway... this post is really becoming something of a rambling stroll...

The upshot is, that I'm hoping my new workflow of filming, editing, and uploading from my phone will inspire me to start making a few more skate videos again. I pretty much have my phone with me at all times so I can be a little more spontaneous, and film wherever I happen to skate knowing all the clips will be on my phone, ready to edit, without having to sit at my desktop computer.

The challenge is to find some kind of story so my videos aren't just you watching me running through the same batch of tricks video after video.

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

Are Ion Thrusters the Future of Flying Cars? Spoiler - Probably Not But... Hover Boards... Maybe?

Undefined Technologies Ion Propulsion Drone prototype 3D concept image. You may have heard of Ion engines or, more likely, Ion thrusters. NASA uses them on their spacecraft to help maintain a craft's position or to propel them through space.  Upon hearing that you might think they're big, powerful engines, but actually they are not. They work well in the vacuum of space but, once any kind of atmosphere and gravity is involved they'd be hard pressed to launch you off the ground if you strapped four of them to your lawn chair and yelled "up, up, and away!" I am no expert on Ion thrusters - they're basically magic that science has an explanation for. If you want to know the details, The Space Techie website has a layman's explanation .  Build Your Own Ion Thruster Earth based Ion Thrusters work a bit different to their  space based cousins by Ionizing the same air that we breathe to create thrust (an effect known as Ionic-wind ).  While they sound highly soph

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Robot Uprising Update: Robot Waiter, Fasta Pasta, South Terrace, Adelaide CBD, South Australia

On the second evening of my partner, Enigma, and I's weekend stay in Adelaide we decided to have dinner at Fasta Pasta . Strangely enough our hotel staff, at the Alba, had not mentioned Fasta Pasta as an option for an evening meal while their restaurant is closed for refurbishment, even though it is literally next door on the corner of South Terrace and Pultney Street. You may be aware that Fasta Pasta is an upmarket Italian restaurant franchise with its beginnings in Adelaide. Currently they have 19 restaurants Australia wide (with the majority in South Australia - we even have one in Gawler, our home town). I've never had bad food at a Fasta Pasta, and their food never looks like a franchise meal. You always feel you're at a restaurant that's a little bit more quality than your typical hotel/motel meal. Maybe it's because you don't see as much pasta based meals on an Aussie pub menu. Despite the name, it's not all pasta. I went with a basic plate of fish a

Guest Post: NEW NOVEL ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - BOOK 1 - GO WEST, GIRL!

Today's guest post is by returning Artist, Writer, and Mental Health Advocate, Jo B Creative who writes for her blog, Creating My Oddessey . Jo's previous 2019 post,  MY SOOPER DOOPER NEW CONSERVATORY/ART STUDIO! for a long time was one of this blog's most read pages. Jo returns under a new alias, author Kit Mackenzie , and with word of her new novel, ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - BOOK 1 - GO WEST, GIRL! which is now available on Amazon. T he first book of this epic western trilogy, Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 1 - Go West, Girl!  is the life story of a devastating and charismatic pants-wearing cowgirl who's the fastest gun in the west and bisexual. A crack shot story that blazes across the wild west! Jeannie Morgan, a devastatingly tomboy-beautiful, pants-wearing maverick who flicks a finger of contempt at society in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Her speed with a gun is faster than the strike of a rattler, outshooting every man she meets. Love, hate and jealo

Nobody move, I've dropped my brain!

I'm probably one of the last Pirates of the Caribbean fans to see At World's End which is still playing at a few cinemas as it nears the end of its run. The title of this post, which is a quote from the movie, aptly describes the difficulties of trying to get your head around the plot. Although it does continue from the previous film in the series (all the characters are there) it doesn't seem critical to know the back story. The main plot is established right at the start. The East India Trading Company is out to wipe out pirates and anyone that so much as glances at a pirate. Our motley crew, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa join forces to bring together the Brethren of Nine pieces of eight (nine pirate lords who can unite all pirates) and stop the massacre of their kind. Slight problem. Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the nine and he died in the last film. Since Captain Barbossa died in the film before that, we know that coming back from the dead isn'

Review: FP Footwear FINO Skate Shoes

FP Footwear FINO Skate Shoes I first saw FP's FINO skate shoes in a video by YouTube channel, Braille Skateboarding, titled, THE FIRST EVER NON NEWTONIAN FLUID SKATE SHOES!? As someone whose feet hurt and bruise relatively easily just from the basic tricks of skateboarding (Ollies, Pop Shuv-its etc.) the 90% absorption of impact energy selling point seemed like an ideal solution for minimizing my injuries. A day later I placed an order through FP's website . ​​ Ordinarily I wouldn't mention Customer Service but I can't let the lack of communication on my order slide. FP's website says to expect delivery within 7-14 days of your order. After close to two weeks, my order was still marked as being processed. I sent an email asking for any kind of update, to no response. A day or two later my order was marked as completed but still no signs of shoes in my mail? About two weeks later (just over a full month of placing my order) the shoes arrived. I'm sur