CheyanneJane on YouTube

CheyanneJane is a YouTube channel with funny, random videos and a goofy, bubbly personality. We have conducted an interview with her to know more about this great idea.

Was there an occasion that inspired you to start your own Youtube channel? How regularly do you post your videos on CheyanneJane Channel and what are your favourite subjects/topics in your videos?

The first time I uploaded to YouTube was back around 2008 when I did some stand-up comedy for fun, but I only got serious about it after a YouTube convention in Sydney called Vidinc. I went with my then-fiancée mostly to see Toby Turner (Tobuscus) but ended up enjoying the shows from a bunch of other vloggers and acts. Some of them were local from Australia and New Zealand so I thought I could do this too! Why not!?

I try to post at least once a week. There are obvious off weeks (my honeymoon for one) but in general I have an idea every week and a few backup videos or series that I continue over a few weeks. I am planning a weight-loss series in the New Year! My favourite topics would just be about my life. That’s what I want to share, and if I can make it entertaining and funny at the same time then that is a bonus. I am not a very girly girl but lately I am doing a few videos about hair and makeup just because I think it’s probably fun for people to see me try to do it when I am not very good at it haha.

Do you include the Australian 'culture' and way of life? Which is one of the funniest videos that you recommend our viewers to watch?

The only culture we have here is swearing and excessive drinking so I guess that you could say yes, I do include our culture. I like to have a few drinks before a video sometimes and even though I meant to have a family-friendly channel at the start I have some strong language in there, so my channel went in a different direction than I planned.

Any of the newer stuff since I am constantly trying to improve would be recommended to view. My channel is still new and I only just got a camera that is capable of HD recording so the more videos I do, the better they will get. If you enjoy the videos I’d love if people could give likes, leave nice comments or even subscribe as it motivates me to do even more.

Who gives the creative direction of the content? How long does it take for you, from start to finish, to create one regular video?

Most of the ideas come from my life and my husband and I often brainstorm new ideas we think are funny or relevant. If you watch the videos though you will notice that lots of them are just about everyday things that people can relate to, especially girls. I also get a lot of inspiration from my favourite YouTubers and watch them as a source of inspiration and ideas. I try not to copy too much but there are a lot of popular things like “Challenges” or “Tags” that all YouTubers do so I try to get involved in that stuff.

It can take a long time to do a video because I am just starting. I have trouble finding the right lighting or angle sometimes, I take longer to work the camera, and editing can take a day or two even for a short video under 10 minutes. As I get practice with all of this and better equipment I hope that it will not take as long. As it is I have to do a couple of takes for some things because I forget what I was going to say, but I do notice that it’s getting better and I get videos out much faster than when I started.

If one day, one of your videos starts to go viral, what will you say to your audience via a next video? How will you execute it?

My videos aren’t really a type that goes viral, but if something suddenly got very popular I think I’d focus on pleasing the fans even more than I do now. It would go from being just a hobby that I like to do, into something that I have to do for fans so I’d get the best equipment I could afford and spend more time on it. I would also have to create a way to raise funds to pay for the equipment and time so I might make some merchandise like jewellery or a shirt or something to give me some pocket money so I can keep doing it. For now, I don’t think I would go viral because I am not very good!

Even though I don’t really expect much, I do hope that one day I have enough fans to spend more time on the videos. I’d love to be able to quit my job and spend all day at home filming my silly antics while my husband works hard at a real job! Haha.

Other than making videos, what are your other hobbies and interest?

I work in childcare and my husband is a graduated civil engineer. We hang out a lot together and he is the love of my life. We have lots of fish but no furry pets because he is allergic, so most of my hobbies now involve YouTube and also gaming – we love Minecraft and our old NES console. Our favourite fish are “Ratbag” the bass and “Old Gregg” the eel.