IT IS DONE - PLUS A LOOK AHEAD

Happy Monday, y’all.

The UFO video is done. No, really. Finally… it is complete. It’s rendering (very slowly) as I type, so we’ll give it a watch, check for any errors, then get it uploaded. It’s a whopper, so bear with us while that happens – it won’t be quick. But you’ll know the second it’s there.

It’s an hour and 20 mins, so about the same length as the big cat video. Frankly, we could've made it twice as long.

There’ll be outtakes coming the way of the upper tiers, plus we’re going to upload the full-length versions of the interviews we did. Both are really interesting and worth a watch, albeit for quite different reasons… 

It’s looking less likely that we’re going to get Digi Level 2 done before the end of the year. I’m frustrated about that, but we’re going to finish it in January when we have less going on.

Dealing with my mum’s house basically consumed November, then we wanted to get this current epic to you lot… and then this week I’ve got to finish up the last of my work for the year before the kids descend upon us next week. 

We’re still hoping to do something Christmassy for the channel, but we’ll keep you posted. December always seems to vanish in a blur.

The UFO video has been the most complicated single video we’ve ever put together, and I can’t see myself doing another this involved for a while – but we’ve also pledged that we’ll give every video the time it needs, rather than rushing anything for the sake of it.

This one is a real journey – in every sense. Genuinely, I go on a bit of an emotional odyssey throughout it, my position shifting over time. Once you’ve watched it, I’d love to get everyone’s take on the subject, because I’m still really conflicted.

My only real disappointment is that I’ve had to work hard with some of the on-location sound. Wind was a major issue in the Peak District, but also… I dropped my mic at one point, and it got wet in the snow.

We didn’t realise, but it wasn’t working properly after that, so a lot of my sound is taken from Sanja’s mic. We’ve managed to make it work, and we’ve bought new mics since, but it does mean that it isn’t quite as crisp-sounding as I’d have liked.

Oh and yeah… there’s a bit of a saga with the new drone…

One of these days we’ll get a video that I’m completely happy with – but this one is as close as they come.

2024 

I’ll do a proper wrap-up of this year before the end of December, but this has been – without a doubt – the biggest year for the channel since Digitiser The Show. Our views are up, our subs have grown. We’re happy with where things are at – not least because we took the first six months of the year off to focus on Digi Level 2.

It has been big for us from a personal perspective, because we finally feel we’ve defined what we are. I mean, the growing pains haven’t been entirely smooth – not everyone has appreciated the change in format (which really began in 2023) - but we’ve slowly been transitioning to an audience that’s here for us. We always felt so overshadowed by our collaborators, and what Digi had been, that it's incredibly freeing to escape that.

We’ve also gotten better at making the videos, and balancing the unique Digi-ness of us with our own approach to the subjects we’re drawn to cover. And we did it all despite all the challenges on the home front. So, feeling proud we managed to get anything at all out this year…! As always, thank you for sticking with us while we worked this out.

I mean, shaking off the past is still ongoing. We got this Patreon exit survey message last week:

“I loved the messing about behind the desk & Digi 1. Re-watched them over and over so became a patreon. Came to see the live show too. I do watch your new stuff but it's not as re-watchable as the older videos as it takes too much time.. Sorry this seems negative; it's not meant to be. Digi is a far better version of CheapShow. Better than Barshens, I'll keep watching.”

I think it’s intended to be nice, kind of, but it does show that for some people we’re still seen as a spin-off of some sort, rather than our own thing.

2025

Right now… I don’t know what 2025 will bring. Apart from finishing everything Digi Level 2 related early in the year (yes, that includes Drong’s Challenge, as well as editing the last couple of live shows) we have no concrete plans. As you know, this year has been absolutely battering on a personal level, so I’m hopeful for a less intense 2025. If we get that lucky, it should leave more room for all the creative stuff I’d love to do.

Both Sanja and I want to do a new series of Found Footage at some point, though I can’t promise that’ll happen next year. I'm conscious I'm not getting any younger though...

I think for the minute we'll carry on doing what we're doing, as we're still loving it. I know we do want to do a video or two overseas next year, though that’ll depend on whether we can afford it. But if not, we’ve got a list of 20 or so subjects we want to cover in the UK.

I also think we want to do some live stuff, but we’ve been trying to think how it’d work now that we’ve kind of found a different YouTube format. Again, can’t promise that’ll happen next year either, but we’re not saying it won’t either. We just need an idea.

Anyhow, that's it for now. The video is still bloody rendering. Not even at 50% yet...