Video: Trying something new

I think it worked out OK.

Hey folks!

I’ve been thinking a lot about video lately. It’s a medium I have a lot of history with. Before becoming a combat sports writer I worked in the TV/film industry (here is a link to one of the epically bad projects I worked on). And YouTube is a frontier I’ve spent some time with in the past, too. A friend and I made some great videos for Bloody Elbow back in the day, some featuring the much missed Elias Theodorou (link).

I feel YouTube would be a nice platform to compliment what I do here on Substack, since I can send you all the videos directly (like I’m doing here).

YouTube is also a potential path to a very modest passive income stream. That would be useful. Some of you know that I went back to college last year, as Bloody Elbow was collapsing, to start a new career in social work. Classes, assignments, studying, and forthcoming field placements, limit the time I can spend working. Because of that the income from Sumo Stomp! has made a real difference in our household. YouTube won’t add much more to that, but it’s something I can try in the limited time I have right now.

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In order to monetize YouTube I need 1,000 subscribers,. I’m about 900 short at the moment (welp). Hopefully that changes once I put more content up on the channel.

The problem, or rather challenge, with making sumo content on YouTube is that using footage of the sport is very risky — given the protective nature of the Japan Sumo Association. I believe anything I could do with footage would be categorized under fair use. However, YouTube does not have a great system for creators to advocate for such use. The Ichinojo video I have on there now has passed its copyright checks. I don’t know if this is because it’s been considered as fair use or because it has fallen through the cracks. I will probably take it down after I have more content on the channel, just to be safe, to avoid a potential content strike (you only get two before your channel is banned).

When thinking over what kinds of videos I could do, which don’t involve footage of matches, I landed on the idea of ‘unboxing’. This is a very popular genre of videos on YouTube. They aren’t usually my kind of thing, but when I thought about ‘unboxing’, or rather, opening sumo card packs — that sounded like fun.

My usual metric for deciding whether I should make a thing, whether it’s an article, tabletop game or video, is whether I would enjoy that thing if someone else made it. If the answer is yes, then I’m usually going to do it.

So, below, you’ll find my first attempt at an unboxing video. I’ve shared it privately and the feedback was positive. No one has said it was as cringey as I feared. I actually enjoyed making this and it was pretty exciting revealing the cards one by one. I pulled some pretty good ones, too.

What do you all think, though? If you like it please hit ‘Like’ over on YouTube, that will help the video get found by other people there.

If you want to go the extra mile, please also consider leaving a comment on the video on YouTube. That will also help the video’s discoverability.

Most important, though, is that you subscribe to the channel (if you want to). And, if you have multiple google accounts or can recommend it to others to subscribe, that would also be helpful.

I have four more packs, so I’ll likely make four more of these videos. If I continue to enjoy the process (and the feedback isn’t terrible), I’ll probably make more, at least while I brainstorm other ideas for video content.

OK, back to work on report cards for me.

Take care, be kind and FIGHT WITH SPIRIT!

Tim