Hall of Fame Rob has been in touch with some good advice on filming model train:
“Hi Al,
Hope all is well with you. Here is another video for your blog. It seemed fairly popular with my subscribers, although it has only been out for a couple of days.
I have been making a series of videos on topics related to model railways/railroads video creation lately. You published the first one on ‘Layout Considerations’ quite recently. In a separate video, I also covered sidings, team tracks, interchanges, branch lines, and spurs.
When creating a video that showcases your model layout to its fullest advantage, it is important to consider the audience that will see the video. If the video is too long, no one will want to watch it, or if they start, they will not watch it for long. Most people have a maximum attention span of 3 minutes or less. It must be compelling if you want them to watch past their attention span.
One way to make your videos more interesting is to try to tell a story so people want to see where it leads. You can tell a story about your journey as you build the layout or a journey of discovery.
Arnie tells actual stories of a different kind with his video stories around and on his Susquehanna layout. With Arnie, one gets to see the details of the layout while being entertained with a storyline.
The other things one can do to make a video more interesting are outlined in the attached video.
A huge big thanks to Hall of Famer Rob for his take on filming model trains.
You can see Arnie’s video that Rob mentions here: American Freedom train.
(You can also see more of them both in the Hall of Fame.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.
That first photo made me think of the movie, ‘The Sound of Music’.
very nice layout. good work. shows that you care about you trains and layout.
Rob , that is an amazing layout , one can easily see why you’re a hall of fame modeler . Certainly not your first rodeo . I can not begin to imagine the planning and execution of such a display … must have taken years to put together . Most impressive. I’m indeed just a novice at this hobby , I can only hope one day I’ve achieved the skill and knowledge to create something like that . I’m content if I can get the trains to go round without some issue or another . Thank you for sharing and inspiring.
Rob. Thanks for the information and your sharing of Knowledge. Wonderful layout, always great to see it..
There is not a whole lot you can say that hasn’t been said, except WOW! and super layout. So much detail and wonderful landscaping craftsman’s ship. Love the ridges and the way you curve your scenery to get the best effect. Love those two black classic cars and the Fish & Chips store. Everything well planned out. I think its important to take the time to plan and execute to avoid common mistakes.
Can’t say enough. I am just getting started on my third layout. Planning stages then track planning and whether to nail track or glue to make it stable.
Love the trains and the way you filmed your video.
Rob, you are one of the finest modelers I’ve ever seen. I love watching your videos.
Great video with useful tips as always Rob. Street level perspective makes such an interesting difference.