343. Starting: Write about starting a project.
I’ve been consuming Tiktok since the pandemic hit in 2020. I would scroll for x amount of time that I would allow so I didn’t fall into a complete rabbit hole of dances, beauty, personality. I’ve remained loyal to the video format, watching everyday and being inspired by what the algorithm serves me. As I exited my depression caused by the pandemic, I began thinking about creating my own videos but felt adrift regarding the content, plus I saw so many videos of creators recounting troll invasions that I decided I didn’t need that negativity in my life.
On the Serengeti, as we traveled between wild animal sightings, I began thinking about posting my own content and realized what I had the most content about, and what I had the most interest in, was traveling. I began chewing on travel concepts since I had a variety of locations, but I mostly had photos rather than videos. My first idea was along the lines of “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” (trivia: I played this computer game ad nauseam when I married in 1992) and workshopped it until it became “Where am I today (or now)” along with a date, as the opening of the video. Then I decided I would take one location, list out 4 facts about it, reveal the location (I’m in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda), and finally ask, “Where will I be next?”
I wrote out a high level concept of my content with notes around captions, tags, and flow. My goal was that during the fall when I wasn’t traveling I would map out all places I wanted to do a video about, choose, write scripts, and collect photos for my first 10 locations, and create some videos. One decision I needed to make was: what application would I use to create my content. If I created in Tiktok, would I have the tools I wanted and could I use on other platforms? Adobe Express was another app I considered but the interface felt chaotic. I’d used Adobe Rush in the past but knew that it was being phased out. I see many creators use CapCut but I didn’t want to get another video editing program but I already pay for Adobe Premier with my monthly subscription so I realized I just need to buckle up and try to learn Premier.
I have indeed accomplished everything except for learning Premier. I have been busy with other things like learning WordPress theme site editing (so many hours!), managing the driveway foundation failure, and finishing this year’s writing challenge. When we next travel to Australia, my Tiktok channel will be my creative outlet and I’ll have the time to devote to this.
