Time to Go Viral

What is a vlog? The term is short for videoblog. Vlogs are online videos that can take an audience through the daily life of a creator (like a video diary), explain a topic, or teach a new skill in a short amount of time. 

While it’s highly unlikely you’ll become the next PewDiePie and make millions as a vlogger, it’s not completely out of the question that you could make a career, or at the very least a side hustle, out of being a vlogger. YouTube vloggers make anywhere between $0.01 and $0.03 per view, according to Intuit Turbo. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, you can make between $3-$5 per 1,000 views and up to $5,000 for 1 million views. And that’s just advertising revenue from YouTube. Vloggers also make money from sponsorships with brands and affiliate links.

Up until a few years ago, vlogging required high-end cameras, professional lighting, and even audio equipment. Not to mention dedicated editing equipment, usually on a desktop. There was also an issue of making sure you had fast enough internet to upload your footage and hoping your audience had fast enough internet to stream your vlog. 

But in today's world of fast mobile internet and smartphones, the smartphone that you use daily is often all that you need to start vlogging. 

Connect with Your Audience

Alex Montoya Marin, an accomplished filmmaker in New Mexico, is starting to take a stab at vlogging. After shooting multiple award-winning short films and even appearing on director Robert Rodriguez’s reality TV show, “Rebel Without a Crew,” Marin said he wants to start vlogging as a way to reach his audience and to continue to develop his filmmaking skills.

One of the apps he uses to help with his vlogging is RarevisionVHS, which provides tools for 80s-style videotape effects. While dispelling any notion that vlogging is easy, Marin said tools like RarevisionVHS help him achieve his vision. Apps help by giving people today so much at their fingertips.

“I use the app because it gives me the possibility to try something different — change it up, stylize it,” he said.

But RarevisionVHS is far from the only app to help make your vlogging dreams come true.

Apps to Help You Vlog

FiLMiC Pro is a professional film app that allows users to control the frame rates, lens, and resolution. But the professional app comes with a professional price — $15 for the download. 

To edit the footage you shot in FiLMiC Pro, you can use an app like KineMaster. After you import your video, you can cut your clips and add music and graphics with the in-app editing tools.

If you prefer a more streamlined process that doesn’t require separate apps for filming and editing, you can check out VlogEasy, which, as the name suggests, is specifically made for vloggers.

VlogEasy uses AI to cut all the dead space in your footage where you’re not speaking, making editing automatic and saving you tons of time.

If you’re always forgetting what to say or you prefer to script out your videos, you can use an app like BigVU, which works like a teleprompter for your phone.

But no matter how you go about recording your videos, if you’re going to upload them to YouTube, you should probably have the YouTube Studio app so you can upload your vlogs directly from your phone.