The 12 Days of Christmas – 2020

How many hours of video
do you suppose are uploaded to YouTube
every minute?

Well, let’s see. The way the question is asked — using different units of time — suggests that it’s a surprisingly high number.

But it takes time to *make* a video: a lot of time. I remember being stunned (and incredulous) when a video-conversant neighbour told me years ago that it takes about 10 hours of editing time for every finished minute of video time. What the heck takes so long?

  • Cropping, placing, and enhancing photos/videos
  • Reworking scripts for narrated videos
  • Reshooting video when you can see what works and what doesn’t
  • Choosing and then synchronizing music where applicable
  • Adding and standardizing titles/captions
  • Considering and rejecting many special effects

I’m just as stunned but nowhere near as incredulous now. In short (haha) producing videos is slooow: So, maybe 10 hours are uploaded every minute?

Off by an order of magnitude.

Good heavens. You mean it’s 100?

Still low. Never mind, you’ll never guess.
It’s 500: 500 hours of video uploaded every minute.

Well, it was 500 in 2019 and is almost undoubtedly higher now. At some point, you’d think the internet, if not the whole planet, would crumble under the accumulated weight. It’s a good thing that electrons are mostly empty space.

Given that deluge, categorizing a video correctly can seem critical. How else will people find it? Yet the categories YouTube offers me seem oddly . . . off.

The video has music in it but is in no way a #Music video. Likewise there are animals, but it’s hardly what comes to mind with #Pets&Animals. #Comedy? Not sure its gentle and occasional humour quite qualify. #Entertainment? Well, I hope so, but again, hardly what comes to mind. And so it goes. #Science&Technology? No. Gaming? News&Politics? Howto&Style? No, no, and no. And so I pick #People&Blogs more or less at random, in the full confidence that no one is likely to be looking for it anyway.

Even more importantly, given that deluge I’m humbled and delighted when my videos are seen by anybody. As the pilots (used to) say, “Thanks for flying with us today. We know you have a choice when you travel.”

Here’s my Christmas offering for this year of almost no travel.

This entry was posted in Laughing Frequently, Music Videos, Photos of Built Stuff, Photos of Fauna, Photos of Flora, Photos of Landscapes and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to The 12 Days of Christmas – 2020

  1. Jim Robertson says:

    Well worth the time to produce it Isabel !!

  2. John Whitman says:

    Isabel – awesome video!! If it takes that much time, when do you have to start working on the one for 2021?

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      John – Last week. Hahaha. No, not quite, although it gives me a stronger appreciation for real video/film editors, even allowing for better tools and training. Glad you enjoyed it.

  3. Jim Taylor says:

    Awesome. Especially your willingness to set “mis-cel-an-y” to music!

    Jim T

  4. The statistics for this creative outpouring en masse are incomprehensible. As statistics that inform your gifts to us every week, they astonish and deepen my appreciation. In a great many ways you have lightened my very difficult year. This compilation is like a match to the fireworks of all the memories they elicit. I do hope you feel as rewarded as I feel blessed.

  5. Your memory is working beautifully. Thank you for such a mind-expanding reminder of what will be coming again.

  6. barbara carlson says:

    All of these ‘days’ of views, flowers, birds, bridge happened before March 13th. Right?
    Ever thought of putting together the 9 months of COVID. Simple — our “4 walls.” Ha!

    Thank goodness for the internet’s windows on the world.

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      Barbara – Oh, yes, before March 13th. Most before this year. I did think about trying to do a COVID-19 version but I couldn’t bring myself to do one to this bouncy music.

  7. Janice Carscadden says:

    Loved your 12 Days of Christmas!
    Obviously, a labour of love!
    Merry Christmas!

  8. Barry Jewell says:

    “This is dedicated to Doris: I think she’d have thought it was funny to do this.”

    Music on the 25th was more likely to be:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iQsVwbvK7U
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnYBTRHILE0 or perhaps
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM1i8Hz0sDw

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      Barry – Yes, she enjoyed that genre didn’t she? Also light classical (at least). I seem to remember some disparaging remarks about a nasty old man (Willie Nelson), so clearly that sort of country wasn’t for her.

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