Exclusive preview of the 9000 Piece Zodiac Puzzle Part 2 (Patreon)

Hi everyone, so as you can see, I couldn't get my next video finished by today. I have been hard at work at the 9000 piece puzzle, and I actually think I could have hustled and gotten the video finished in a week...except that I spent Wednesday and Thursday with an awful headache that meant I couldn't work on the puzzle those days. But I was able to film all day Friday and I got SO MUCH DONE. So the puzzling is done for the video. I just still have to film the outro and then finish the editing, and design the thumbnail, and edit the social videos, and do everything else that goes along with a video release.

One hiccup I'm running into is that it has been extremely cloudy in LA for the past 2 weeks. That's fine when I'm filming in my studio because my lights can brighten it up enough for filming. But when I'm doing a giant puzzle in the living room, I really have to rely on natural light because the space is so tight around the puzzle board that I don't have space to add four lights into the mix.

So if you notice the quality in the video isn't as high as previous videos, that is why. And the other reason is because I bought a new phone just to use as a camera, and I'm realizing just how much easier it is to make more dynamic videos when I'm filming on a phone instead of a giant DSLR. For one, it's much lighter and the tripod has a much smaller footprint, so it's a lot easier to get more unique camera angles. And it has the wide-angle lens, close-up lens, slo-mo mode, and time lapse mode all built right into it, so I don't have to keep switching cameras and then trying to get all the footage back in order, which has sped up my editing time considerably.

I have to be honest, I've been getting a little bored of the formula of my videos. And if I'm bored making the videos, I can only imagine they become boring to watch. So I've really been trying to lean into more playful and slightly chaotic shots, and focus more on the storytelling rather than just the details of the puzzles.

You'll see this even more in the other video I shot recently, all about the 400 piece Lazels puzzle. Originally that video was going to go up today, but the sponsor dropped out at the last minute. So, since I no longer had to post it on a specific day, I decided to delay editing that one and instead keep the momentum going on the 9000 piece puzzle. The Lazels puzzle should be up in early July, and I think it's really fun.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. I hope you enjoy this preview of the next Zodiac video. Quick reminder that unless you see something catastrophic, I'm not looking for feedback on these video previews. (Imagine how stressful it would be if you had hundreds of co-workers all trying to tell you what to do. I'd second-guess all my decisions and never release a video again.)

And then the full video will be up on Friday. I will be unavailable next Sunday and taking the following two weeks off from the internet, so instead we're doing a special Friday release. I'll see you all then!