The Stupendium 2020 Wrap-Up-n'-Recap

Hello Stupid People!

2020 is coming to a close (…finally) so it’s time for a bit of an update! I hope you all have managed to have a nice Christmas in spite of the world falling apart around us like pieces of a wet cake. Or if Christmas isn’t something you celebrate; I hope you have none the less had a safe and enjoyable December.

It goes without saying that this has been an unprecedented year for all of us and I want to thank all of you for choosing to support me here on Patreon through these turbulent times.

Looking back at last year’s 2019 wrap up post is almost surreal, reading about all the big plans for 2020 I had that for the most part had to be waylaid. In fact most of the plans for the past year are now plans for next year!

In 2019 I was fortunate enough to be able to begin using a professional production space for shooting my videos. Projects like ‘The Fine Print’, ‘A Purpose for New London’ and ‘A Matter of Factories’ were made in the studio. It was a long commute up to use it but so much better than making content from home. But after lockdown descended ‘Slide into the Void’ was the last project I was able to make at the studio before I was stuck back producing videos in my living room.

I did my best to maintain that new level of quality I’d gained from the production space. I invested in some more advanced lighting equipment (thanks to all of you!) to try and at least partially simulate the full lighting setup at the studio and tried to push what could be achieved on a tiny home green screen. And though some videos had to be downsized to become possible from home (I’m looking at you, lost choreographed dance sequence for Rip and Tear) I’m still I’m very proud of what I was able to achieve in spite of the limitations.

In fact, one of this year’s biggest successes for me, ‘Nook, Line & Sinker’ and by conjunction it’s two sequels, only came to be because of the lockdown. My first Animal Crossing song was a last-minute stand-in when ‘Rip and Tear’ had to be delayed to re-work into a from-home video!

The plan for this year was to relocate, leave London and move to Birmingham where I could be local to the studio, set a up a permanent office space for the channel in the same building and to hire an editor to help assist with producing content to both increase the amount of content but also the amount of free time I have (because it’s frighteningly low!).

I’m happy to report that I’ve managed to achieve… maybe 5% of that plan! A couple of months ago I managed to pack up my life and move up to Birmingham. If you hadn’t heard the news, I’m currently lodging with my good friend/mortal enemy/founder of the coveted studio space Dan Bull in his spare rooms. And whilst setting up a daily office space isn’t currently viable, I am able to get to the studio and use it for filming new videos, even if they must be edited from home. You probably noticed ‘An Impostor Calls’ was not filmed in a living room with all the sofas moved out of the way!

So, what’s next? The plan remains unchanged, it now just all hinges on the world and when it will allow things to progress. Originally, I intended to move up here with Dan, stay with him for long enough to get the studio and offices set up and then begin looking for a place for myself and my partner in the local area. Well, Covid has condensed that somewhat, as though I’ve only been with Dan a couple of months and the studio is far from established, Liz and I have spent almost the entirety of the last year apart and are keen to finally have a place together. So, come the new year we’re starting the hunt for our own place.

And with that will come another part of the plan as if all goes to plan (I am using the word plan too much) once Liz and I have a home of our own she’ll be coming to work for me full time as an assistant editor/production assistant for the channel! She’s been doing odd-jobs for me over the past couple of years in exchange for hugs and chips but this year has made those forms of payment somewhat unreliable so it’s time to make it official!

I’ve got multiple big projects planned for the new year and once Liz is on board we’ll be able to kick things up another notch in terms of quantity and variety of content. Things like behind the scenes content, vlogs, streams (with highlights), all the type of ‘smaller’ content I’ve never had time to make will become possible with the help of an extra editor. Not only that but I hope to increase the frequency of songs on the channel too!

The goal is to make more songs but also start doing more simpler videos. Having an editor to work on simpler, more gameplay and titles focused videos (Think ‘A Little Heart’ or ‘Gotta Build a Zoo’) whilst I focus on making the big effects/animation heavy projects should mean you guys get more songs whilst I get more time to work on making the fancier videos alongside Liz making the simpler ones.

It will likely take us some time to find our feet, but I think it will work out great for both the channel and my own sanity!

I mentioned this next part briefly on Discord recently but here’s the full version:
This year I had a lot of big plans which sadly couldn’t come to fruition. However, as a result I’ve been able to save up a bunch of the money you’ve been pledging all year to invest back into the channel in the form on new equipment. This month I’ve purchased a new 6k camera, a lightning fast new PC for editing/rendering videos and most excitingly a motion control system for the camera to allow for some seriously fancy camera shots and advanced VFX.
It’s gonna take some hefty setup and it looks a bit intimidating but I’ll show it off properly once we have it all operating in the new year! For now, here’s a very fancy series of robotic camera arm components in pretty boxes:

And a shiny new camera!

None of this would have been possible without the incredible support you’re all so generously pledging to the channel. So I want to thank you all so much, I can’t wait to unleash this new kit on some awesome new videos in the new year!

And not only have to all been supporting me, but so many of you have also helped support Shelter via the ‘Lights on a Truck’ fundraiser I’ve been running for the past few weeks. We’ve already blasted past our first target and are well on the way to our second! It’s so heart-warming to know that the Stupendium community is filled with so many caring, generous folks. I’m impossibly proud of the community we’ve built here and I’m excited to see where we take it next year.

In summary, thank you for sticking by the channel this crazy, crazy year. YouTube is a turbulent platform at the best of times and the past 12 months have been even more so than usual, so your support truly has been invaluable. I hope you’ve all had as good a year as possible and a festive-as-achievable festive season.

If you’ve any questions about anything I’ve said in this post, feel free to ask! All that remains to be said is I hope you all have a happy and safe new year!

~Stupes