09 June 2024

Recording My Life

Little snippets of everyday living

So I went shopping the other day, from store to store, to find the cheapest handheld camcorder I could. Y'know, one of those with the flippy screen and hand strap that makes it super comfy, small enough to fit in ur pocket (kinda)? Couldn't find one. At least not for the price range I had in mind.

See, I've had this idea in my mind for a while now, recording my life. Just little snippets, little moments. Thing is, with pictures, they'll go to my camera roll, sometimes to the group chat, but most are never seen again. Anything I record on my phone? Gone. Doesn't matter, I save so many images and memes that anything worth recalling upon will be lost to time. If i were to buy an expensive camera, and it breaks while I'm doing something like exploring a storm drain? That's money down the drain. Literally.

It was an idea on the back-burner, that was, until, while listening to the Lil RES podcast (highly reccomended for chill, "just friends talking about interesting things" podcast) where they mentioned buying a cheap kids toy camera for like, $20, and using that to record stuff. Due to the quality of the camera, it gives off that early-2000's first-mass market camera vibe. I was stunned, like, duh! Kids toys! They're designed to be thrown around the ringer and not be cared about, if it breaks, it's cheap to replace, and it's low-quality enough that the filmography isn't so much of a concern. So I went hunting.

As stated above, I couldn't fine one in time for the start of June. There were some video cameras but none in the form-factor I was after. Those one-handed camcorder ergonomics are too good to pass up. I took to ebay, and bought the cheapest camera I could find. It was like, $25 from what I can remember? cheap as chips. So it comes in, and on the same day I'm gonna go exploring a storm drain with some friends, prefer chance to give it a whirl! I chuck in some batteries (it doesn't charge, just takes AAAs), an SD card, and record an opening to listed back. It sucks! The audio is terrible, the video quality is equally bad, but that's exactly what I wanted. It captures the raw beauty of the world in all it's 4:3 stretched to 16:9 glory. So i went out, recorded the day. Everything from my friends and their thoughts, the walk to, inside, and from the drain, the food we bought afterwards, the convo on the car ride home. Editing it together that night... I fell in love with the concept!

I've been doing this for a few days now, and I already wanna upgrade my camera. I'd keep both, one to capture stuff in high quality (and with the audio synced, the cheap-o's audio does not sync AT ALL with the video) and one to capture stuff in places where I don't feel safe carrying an expensive piece of equipment around. I could get a few cheap-o cameras with some cheap SD cards and throw one in every bag I own, that way I'm always ready to record the day, bringing along the good one when I know something good is gonna happen.

I won't be uploading my personal vids here, they're personal after all! But I may post some interesting findings with the cam on my site someday, perhaps on it's own dedicated page, but for now, I wanna tell YOU to try this out! Find the cheapest camcorder you can, and record your day! Little snippets, walking around, talking with your friends, experiencing life. Look back on these moments at the end of the day. Look back at them at the end of the week, look back regularly, and see that you have enjoyed life. Even if you show these videos to nobody but yourself, there's an inbuilt incentive, when you dedicated yourself to recording your day, to do something interesting. Maybe you go for a walk, capture the streets, maybe you take a different route home for a change of scenery, it's up to you!

A few recent events have upped my mood lately, and this camera is no exception. In fact, I can see this high lasting a long time. I can't wait to see it all edited together at the end of the year.

That's all for today's post! I wanna quickly put a shoutout to those who've commissioned me over the past few days, I'm struggling financially a lot lately, so that support means SO much to me!

See y'all in the next one :3