There are a few people I respect and even less that I admire. Ryan Estrada is someone who impresses me. It’s not hard to figure out why considering everything he has done over the past five years and of course you ask why not do it yourself. Easy, no one else has the motivation or drive to complete a 168 hour comic, much less hop from job to job around the world. What’s he doing now? Well he’s an American doing customer service support in India. Yeah, I laughed for 15 minutes as well but he’s topping it off with two weeks of exploring which he is calling Ryan Estrada: Expeditions!
Here’s the catch though. This is not some planned itinerary he’s following from some book, but a planned itinerary from some loyal readers. Ryan took submissions from anyone who would send them and compiled them into a list of missions to accomplish. On top of that he’s taking his apparently waterproof camera with him and making a serious of mini documentaries. Gentlemen and ladies, this stuff is good. The video’s are displayed in 2:3 ratio which gives a sort of comic panel feel to it. The video is mixed with his own artwork and the composition of sound and music is done very well. Ryan has done so many things, and done them well, that I’m almost at the point that anything associate with the man has to be good.
Visit the new RyanEstrada v4.0 and see the past 5 shows. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you might even shed a tear. I know I can’t wait to see what’s next. By the way, why hasn’t Phil said anything about this?
Phil’s had plenty to say! He’s been a big help on the show, first with submitting missions, then with tons of Final Cut Pro help, then helping me critique episodes, and helping me check files.
The show isn’t just the 2 week road trip though, I plan on doing this show from now on, wherever I go. I already have a bunch of local trips in the can, with more planned. Parasailing, poisonous snake farm, running around on top of a train… even another 2 week road trip in April! And it’ll continue as I go to US, Mexico, and the rest of the world!
Thanks for the write up!
Wow, Phil didn’t even mention it. I was mainly talking about him doing a write up or mentioning it on the podcast. Of everyone on the site he has the most film expertise and the expeditions are perfect for critique. We’re still looking for some comments though. What will it take to get Phil to make a non-announcement post on the site?
When you’ve got your hands in as many interests as Phil does, it’s easy to expect a little low-grade neglect to this or that project. None of it intentional mind you. You can count on Phil, he always finds the time.
If it weren’t for Phil’s critiques, each episode would have been about 10 minutes longer, have a lot less music, and be 100% more boring. he’s still trying to talk me into adding subtitles though, which I’m stubbornly refusing to do on many fronts.
Well rock on with the Phil. Good luck with completing your missions Ryan, I’ve really dug the episodes so far.
I was just thinking “This is great, but it would be nice to have subtitles at times.”
Perhaps a subtitle version?
As for the format of the video… I really like it. It reminds me of getting a video vacation card. I’d say “Postcard,” but that would have to be horizontal.
..there are an infinite number of reason’s I’m battling the idea of a subtitled version, which I won’t get into here.
I only wish that I knew how to promote a video podcast! Webcomics, I can handle, I know the channels, I know the people, I can get my stuff seen. My vidcast hasn’t quite taken off yet.
There are podcast lists just like webcomic lists. I know a bunch on the Podcast Pickle network which is like a ratings site where the top 100 favorited podcasts are prominent, ads everywhere, that kind of thing.
Here’s a helpful site: http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Promote_Your_Podcast.html
I haven’t really mentioned anything about it, mostly because of the level of involvement as Ryan mentioned. Plus, I totally put his waterslide promo on IJD.
Also, I doubt he really needs my help in promoting his work
If you’re looking for places to promote your vidcast, check some of these:
Podcast Alley
Podcast Pickle
and a long list atMasterNewMedia.org
You could also ask your fellow webtoonists that have podcasts to plug your show. That seems to work fairly well.
Hope that helped, keep up the good work.