Shooting at the YouTube Space Tokyo in Roppongi

So, not too long ago, a friend of mine contacted to tell me that he had taken a tour of a new YouTube Studio that had just been build on the 29th floor of Roppongi Hills. He had said that he was able to get a press tour of it through the company he worked for, and that given the success of How to Defeat Dudes, I might be eligible to use it. Sure enough, I did a bit of homework and found out that such a studio did indeed exist... and it was only one of three in the world (with the other two being in London and LA).

 Basically, as YouTube continues to grow it is getting more and more of a share of people's leisure time viewing that traditionally only belonged to television, and cable. As such, they built these studios in key locations to allow their top partners access to better skills and equipment so that they could continue to create to local and international content that could compete in entertainment value with big budget or network TV.

Roppongi Hills: The Home of the YouTube Space Tokyo

With that, I looked into the requirements to film there, and while my channel is still relatively small for Youtube standards, (1/2 a million views), my regular monthly views were just enough for the minimum requirement of 15,000 per month (at that time I had 15,200) and my subscriber count was 6x higher. With that, I put in an application, and sure enough I was granted full access to the studio. I think I also lucked out in this regard because YouTube is still a lot smaller in Japan than it is in the states, so even though I was creating content largely for American / Western audiences, they were simply happy just to have me in to make use of the studio. As Youtube Japan & the studio continues to grow, who knows at a later date I may not have been able to get in to make use of it.

At any rate, I can now use the studio space and equipment to shoot there for free, I get an agent/mentor, and a manager, and I can take classes on production ranging from top level editing software like Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition, to how to use green screens and effective lighting strategies. Furthermore I also get the chance to meet and work with other top earning Japanese partners as well.

The Green Screen Set

Audio Recording Booth

The last camera I got to shoot on- the Canon FX305.
(About a $6000 camera)

In a lot of ways getting access to a studio like this was something I had been yearning for for years. How to Defeat Dudes always has been the flagship of my channel, and where most of my views come from. While I have created a few other things on my own since then that have done really well, ultimately, in order to succeed I knew that I would need to 1) continue the show and 2) create more content that was of the same or better quality. Having access to this studio will allow me to do just that without it being the massive financial strain that producing the first 13 episodes on my own was. Now I can not only continue the show indefinitely on my own, but I can also start more high production value shows (as well as my first Japanese channel) all while learning from top-notch industry experts, and on top-notch equipment- experiences that will lend itself very well to following my dream of producing content that extends beyond YouTube and onto other forms of media.

The only challenge that working at the studio presents is the fact that it is more or less all in Japanese. (i.e. All of the forms I have to fill out, all the classes I am taking, etc)... And trust me, learning to use Premiere Pro is hard enough in English. Learning it in Japanese is exhausting at times to say the least.

At the same time though, I'm not taking this opportunity for granted in the least… I'm getting to learn all those things that successful film makers go to school for, and doing it for free. And it's pretty damn safe to say that Chuck is a happy camper at the moment.