It's 2018. A brand new page. For us creatives, renewed energy, and enthusiastic drive is what it will take to kick the new year off right. And who better to personify said energy than coffee fueled, Toronto-based photographer / cinematographer Peter Mckinnon? In his first "vlogtorial" style video of 2018 Mckinnon takes to the streets of Toronto with friend and sage-like video creator Chris Hau.
With no particular goal in mind and armed with a "most epic day of life" approach, the duo passively location scout their hood while producing light, but captivating, content along the way. This video is littered with fun, energy, inspiration, and the secrets to success, if you know what you're looking at.
McKinnon outright shares some of his secrets (how he gets his music and videos perfectly in sync, or what his thoughts on goals are) while others go unmentioned and must be gleamed by a mindful eye. Like how McKinnon and Hau were always on the look out for content, subjects, and locations. Everywhere they went and everything they did was documented for later use. Which is why the seemingly mundane task of prepping for his day, in a parking garage, became a large part of his video. Peter told me:
I like to try and make the best of wherever I go shoot. I.e. the first five minutes of the video is literally a parking garage. -Peter McKinnon
And how McKinnon took a day of little direction and made it completely engrossing by creating content that he was excited about. Or maybe, more accurately, being excited by the content he was creating. That enthusiasm becomes infectious, making me enthusiastic just by watching it. I hope you pick up as much as I did from this video and if you walked away with any other insights, please share them in comments below.
[via Peter McKinnon]
Can't wait until the snobs show up and start bashin Pete because reasons
I'm not sure what's worse mate, you complaining about the "haters" or the "haters" themselves. PS: Someone who doesn't objectively enjoy Peter's content doesn't make them a "hater". He works in a creative medium and by the very nature of the "sport" it's going to be polarized. I personally find VLOG content to be fairly vapid, even his. And yes I expect them to produce quality content when that's their FULL time job. I see small creators doing a lot of great stuff and they have a full time job and still manage to "love what they do". I don't see them being posted around these parts.
Anyway THAT said, Peter's a great guy, his tutorial content is solid if you're new into filmmaking, but a lot of his tricks are 101's for anyone who's more experienced in the craft he's teaching. No disrespect mate.
Or the haters of the haters, hating the haters.
It's part of the discussion ;)
Haters of the haters lol love it
"For us creatives", sounds too much like "I'm a special snowflake."
I don't know about snowflake but I'm definitely a special something. :)
Happy smiley people doing boring things in slow motion!
What's not to love?
Hey Jeff! Down here! :P
And bah humbug Michael! I think Peter does an amazing job embodying what it is to create, create often, create professionally, and create with enthusiasm. :)
Took less than an hour after I said that. Haha, bitter people will always hate on what they don't have. Pete is making content and producing material that people want to see. He shares his life, day to day, and he is super personable. Meanwhile in the hater section it's all snobbery because "he doesn't make films...it's just slow motion garbage."
Maybe, just maybe, if you bothered to produce something that interests you instead of brooding over what others are producing, you can contribute wonderful things into your own community. Or, just be grouchy that Pete has 1.5million subs and is enjoying life.
Yes, Mr. McKinnon is very popular, and deservedly so.
But he's not going to appeal to every last person on Earth.
I happened to find the video boring.
That doesn't mean I 'hate' him or what he does.
I'm not sure what it is about this "if I don't like the content I'm a hater". My issue with it is the same as yours, it was a VLOG, it was IMHO a little boring (my fault not his) but just not sure why there needs to be SO many Peter McKinnon links...I like the guy well enough as well, happy for his success, but when every day F-Stoppers posts a McKinnon story I'm not even sure whY i'm subscribed here.
Just my opinion (not worth a thing I realize that).
"Not appealing to some" and making the snarky ass comment "happy people & boring stuff all in slow motion," are very different. You made a rude comment, and are now backpedaling.
Even in your response here you simply said I found it boring. Cool, I've found some of his videos boring. You know what I do? Move on. No need to talk trash and put it down. Just move on to the next thing.
@16mm Camera - I called him a hater because of his snarky response. Disliking something doesn't make a hater, I dislike a lot of things that I don't hate. However, making snide remarks about the work does infer more than a simple dislike.
I'm glad you admit that disliking something doesn't make a person a hater.
I'm going to take your advice and move on now.
Have a great day!
No offence Jeff, but your comment OUT the gate on this was snarky. Not towards Peter, but towards the comments that may come. It's a side effect when a publication keeps promoting the same guy over and over again. Most of it's readers know who Peter is and are subscribed to him.
"Jeff Walsh - 18 hours ago
Can't wait until the snobs show up and start bashin Pete because reasons" was not really a good tone to set as a FIRST comment IMHO.
But you're entitled to it, no disrespect mate, just a conversation of slightly opposed opinions given the context.
Peter doesn't really need to be defended, he's successful and will continue to be for the time being, it's also okay that people don't find his content engaging (especially if they're a bit older) and are sick of f-stoppers promoting every one of his videos.
I don't personally find VLOG's great photography based content. They shared one where he showed Casey ONE camera hack and I had to watch a 10 min vlog before hand of Peter in Milwaukee just to see what it was. It was putting scotch tape on the LCD screen of the camera...not really that engaging to be honest.
It's fine, it's a discussion board and we're discussing.
I have to take fully responsibility for the excessive McKinnon posts these days (just a heads up, there is one more in the pipe). Even though I have close to 30 years of photography experience I have 0 years of video making experience and as I ramp up to get into creating video content I find myself overly enthused whenever I see something new and learn from it. Which right now is everything. In this respect I represent the complete noob. But frankly, as someone starting out, I find McKinnon's content inspiring, and informative. And he has just been so damn prolific this year. Good content is good content despite it's frequency. (Just look at Lee and Patrick who are pumping out 30 videos in 30 days). I know "good" is subjective but for me I'm learning stuff and getting jazzed so I'm hoping it can do the same for others at my level.
All that being said, help me out guys, I would love it if you had any other suggestions for me. I need to learn so much about video creation and need inspiration / motivation even more. Who are some of your favorite content creators right now? :)
I think we're all like that. We get excited about learning something new, I can't fault you for that nor would I. I think as a CONTENT creator yourself, you need to diversify or at least be mindful of it. When every 4th post I see from you guys is a McKinnon post (VLOG IMHO isn't very informative) then it gets a bit tired for me. Maybe that's just me, but given the first comment on this board anticipating the "haters" incoming I think it's something you should be mindful of.
Given the influence publications such as F-Stoppers (which you guys are a active reason in part of Peter's HUGE success this year) I feel you should actively dig deep to find similar content from smaller creators as long as it fits your brand.
Watching Chris and Peter frolic around on new years IMHO is as vapid as it comes in terms of sharable content. There were no real lessons there, just watching a youtuber and another youtube (Chris gained much of his success through collaborating with Peter and Peter's recent collaboration with Casey upped his count even MORE) feels a bit contrived.
But that's just my opinion, I don't want to share content creators who I enjoy, but there are a few who are showing kids how to use vintage lenses as cheap alternatives to more expensive lenses for shooting photo and video as well as what it's like to be editor/DP in the world of film and television.
There's some great authentic advice there from people who work full time, but do this in their own spare time for little to no gain. Valuable information, told in a compelling way.
Anyway I've said my piece on it, something that's been bugging me lately with the constant Peter content, I come to F-stoppers for the content and when the content seems to be coming from the same place I might as well stop coming here and just go there.
All due respect, you keep doing what you're doing, I'm just one person with one opinion that ultimately doesn't matter. I enjoy your content overall so I'm NOT going anywhere (for now at least).
I always find there is usually valid reasons being a complaint. It's good to discuss it, i work in the industry and ego's aside...the best stuff comes out of hearing both sides of why something works and doesn't.
What does this dude do in life besides nothing, and filming that nothing?
Good stuff Kenn
I still can't believe this is an F-STOPPERS share. VLOG's are somehow sharable content on F-stoppers, I have to wonder what kind of deal McKinnon has with you guys to get this type of shoutout.