Fresh Tracks+

[Cornell2012]

Totally off-topic here.... But out of curiosity, how much 'film is on the floor' after editing an episode? As in - how many hours of filming happens to make a typical-length episode? My 9 (almost 10!) y/o son has started making YT videos of random stuff and he's actually pretty good at editing (even if the content is a little lacking ) but he spends a metric ton of time cutting, inserting, etc. and now he's wanting a new mic and separate camera so he can do voice-overs and floating head inserts. Curious what a professional content creator deals with to get a single episode out the door.

One of the production crew can probably give more info, but there is a lot that gets filmed and never used. I think editing takes the most time, and don't be surprised if editing for a 5 minute video takes several hours (especially when just starting).

We're in a great era where you can get decent beginner equipment that isn't prohibitively expensive. Many consumer-grade cameras are actually much more capable than people realize. Lots of stuff can just be shot on a recent phone (I think we've got a few more casual hunts that the guys self-filmed on their phones). Even audio isn't too bad, you can use your phone as a recording device with an external mic if you want to record audio in the field.

Equipment can help make content, but it is kind of like fishing - an $80k boat won't catch you lots of fish if you don't know what you are doing. The old-timer in the rowboat will out fish you every day.

It is great that your son has taken an interest in this. It is a ton of fun and I used to make stupid videos with my friends when I was in school.

 

[Cornell2012]

I've enjoyed FT+ so far and I'm glad it's now available on Roku, watching on a little screen gets old after a while.

I did noticed some videos/hunts are missing. The pronghorn hunt with Marcus and his dad and the turkey hunts with Marcus and Michael to name a couple. Do you plan to have these and other old videos available in the future?

We were porting over a lot of content from other platforms when we were setting this up. It is likely we missed a few things along the way. You were talking about this video series with Marcus and his dad, right?

 

[Brandon270]

We were porting over a lot of content from other platforms when we were setting this up. It is likely we missed a few things along the way. You were talking about this video series with Marcus and his dad, right?

Yes, I've watched it on YouTube but noticed thatshort series and a some others were missing.

 

[SlownSteady7]

5 min in the first video there and my wife heard the moving to Montana story she’s staring me down. She is all for moving to Montana if the right forestry job ever pops up. I’d be like a kid in a candy store.

 

[Big Fin]

Totally off-topic here.... But out of curiosity, how much 'film is on the floor' after editing an episode? As in - how many hours of filming happens to make a typical-length episode? My 9 (almost 10!) y/o son has started making YT videos of random stuff and he's actually pretty good at editing (even if the content is a little lacking ) but he spends a metric ton of time cutting, inserting, etc. and now he's wanting a new mic and separate camera so he can do voice-overs and floating head inserts. Curious what a professional content creator deals with to get a single episode out the door.

Figure close to a half hour of raw footage captured for each minute of video. Example, when we went to BC, Marcus came back with 50+ hours of footage for an episode that ended up being 40 minutes long. If it is something we can script and shoot in a controlled setting, it is more like a 5:1 or 10:1 ratio, rather than the 50+:1 ratio on our hunts.

Sounds like your son has an eye for storytelling. Encourage him. You will enjoy the end product.

 

[Scott85]

I feel like it’s a good business move. Just don’t know how economical it will be in the long run if all these hunting shows I like to watch started their own platform. I love fresh tracks and own a couple seasons on VHX already so I’ll buy a subscription for a month if for nothing else to watch season 9.

 

[peterk1234]

I'm not familiar with LG specifically. If there is an app store you can try to search for the app there. If not, your best bet will be to open it on web and then share it to your TV (Chromecast and Airplay are common). If you have an iPad or iPhone, you can potentially airplay it from the mobile app if your TV supports it.

You can also look into getting something like a Roku Express for about $25-30. I bought a variety of different devices so that I could test the apps out in production and Roku is by far the one I would choose if buying for myself, especially for the fairly modest price point. It seems to just work better and is more responsive than the smart TV function of my TV.

Sorry I don't have a better answer. There are so many different devices out there and we are limited to what we can build for.

I appreciate the info. I mayalso be able to share my laptop screen via bluetooth tot he screen. I'm just not sure how reliable it is. I can always get a ROKU. That's a great idea.

 

[CJnGA]

Figure close to a half hour of raw footage captured for each minute of video. Example, when we went to BC, Marcus came back with 50+ hours of footage for an episode that ended up being 40 minutes long. If it is something we can script and shoot in a controlled setting, it is more like a 5:1 or 10:1 ratio, rather than the 50+:1 ratio on our hunts.

Sounds like your son has an eye for storytelling. Encourage him. You will enjoy the end product.

Wow. 50:1. That's a lot of whittling. Since you've got your own platform now, any chance of some "Cutting room floor" clips/outtakes a la the old Bill Dance clips? ha!

My son has been a story teller since BEFORE he could talk. I have a video of him at about 2 y/o sitting on the couch telling us 'how it is' before he could even make real words, but he didn't let that stop him. It's been a big change for me - a professional wallflower - to deal with him wanting to be out front of everything. We're getting it figured out though.

 

[Moose Knukle]

Some of you have probably already seen these videos, but in the last week we launched three videos of the history of our platforms, what principles got us to where we are today, and where we are going.

Today we launched a new platform we have been working on for many years. It is called Fresh Tracks+, which is what the name implies; Fresh Tracks, plus a lot more. It is brought forth on the premise that we pay for content in one of three ways:

1. With our time by having to sit through ads that mean nothing to us, and/or....

2. With our personal information and privacy by allowing these ad-based big tech companies to build profiles about us based on our behaviors, then sell/rent that information for huge sums of money, or....

3. With a small monthly or annual fee that eliminates items #1 an #2 above.

Some people are fine paying for content under options #1 and/or #2. I get that; it is how they have trained us since the first radio shows were funded by ads and when the first websites started tracking our activities. Yet, many of us have tired of our time and privacy being the currency by which we pay for content.

A bit of history on this project. Matthew and I started looking for our own video distribution platform in 2011 and 2012. We eventually built our own custom video player with a lot of features, at a significant cost. Unfortunately, at the time, delivering video files was more expensive than what could be earned in monetizing such. So, in 2013, we put the project on the shelf.

Roll forward to 2019. With the huge changes in video file technology, emerging infrastructure to better deliver high quality video, and my continued frustration with ad-based technology companies, Matthew convinced me the next step in our business model was to take advantage of these new opportunities and explore our own member-based platform.

Being the skeptic and having been burned once, I decided we needed to poll our audiences. Over the last two year, many of you were kind enough to participate in a lot of surveys we were doing. First, to gauge what new platforms you wanted us to add. Second, to get more information about what reasons you had for wanting different platforms.

From all of that came the plan of Fresh Tracks+. Matthew left his consulting job this spring and started working with RJ, our operations manager, to implement this new idea. It has been a huge undertaking. And it is being launched with many more features yet to come in the next few months.

Below is some highlight of why we have done this and why we are adding it as another option, rather than a replacement of existing options.

1. I believe you should be able to watch content without worrying who is following you around for the sake of skimming your personal information and using that to serve you the next content items or to serve you ads. Worse yet, they develop profiles about you and they rent/sell that profile information to advertisers. I've always hated that and I hate it more each day.

Unfortunately, YouTube is the biggest video distribution platform and likely always will be. And YouTube is the second biggest violator of your personal information and privacy, following the leader of the pack, Facebook. Those are two necessary evils in reaching large audiences.

Yet, if you are like me and you don't want to pay for content with your privacy and personal information, then this new Fresh Tracks+ option is a way for you to enjoy our content without that worry. Yet, knowing some people would rather pay for their content with their time (ads) and their privacy and personal information, we will continue to keep those other platforms in place and allow people to view our content there, albeit released at later dates than when it premiers on FT+.

2. In the surveys, a large number of you answered the same way I did - that you value your time and you would like an option where you don't have to sit through ads about products/services that you have no interest in. I pay a lot of small monthly or annual subscription fees to get my news and other content I want. I no longer have to deal with ads, intrusions, etc. This is a way for people to avoid ads. Some of our old content we put on FT+ will have company logos, as it is prohibitive to go and remove every company presence in that old stuff. But, the new content is being exported during edits as ad-free.

3. Many of you said you want all our content in one place. I share your frustration when we put a 4-episode hunt on YouTube, only to have YouTube scatter all four episodes and not allow us to link them in sequence. On FT+, everything will be in one place and easy to find.

4. I'm tired of being throttled by FB and YT. They don't "censor" us, per se, but they do demonetize our content, which is the same as censorship when using platforms that rely on ads for moving up the algorithm. Why would YT give a demonetized video any positive score in the algorithm if it is not earning any revenue due to their demonetization of "sensitive content?" Answer - they don't push it through the algorithm, rather it goes into a dark hole. This is their backdoor way of censoring content without being accused of censoring. Fine, their platforms and I agreed to their terms of use. But, doesn't mean I'm going to stand still while they do it. Thus, another reason for FT+.

There are a lot of other reasons why we are doing this. Anyone who thinks that guns, knifes, dead animals, cutting meat, etc is going to have a home on popular media distribution platforms five years from now has a more optimistic view of these ad-based tech companies than I do. You saw it this summer when Amazon removed all our content and all other hunting content from the free PRIME model and place that content on a rent/buy option. They keep a large chunk of that money and small producers who provide content end up on the short end. I suspect it is only a matter of time before Amazon tosses hunting from the rent/buy options.

I could go on and on. We are happy to answer more questions on this. We know it is not for everyone, but for many, it is an attractive option.

What you see today has all seasons of Fresh Tracks, including the new Season 9 (no, it won't be going to Amazon). You will find the four seasons of our old show, On Your Own Adventures. You will find our "Lessons Learned" videos, our new fishing series, "Any Fin Goes," our films, many live events, some upcoming content that will be exclusive to FT+, and the content that will roll out on the ad-based platforms later on will be available on FT+ before it is available on YT or FB.

We are adding APPS for your phones and your smart TVs. We hope people will sign up directly with us, to avoid paying 30% to the app platforms, then go download the apps afterwards. Those apps will be ready in the next few weeks.

Thanks for all your support. Lots more to come on this project.

Oh, I almost forgot, if you want to check it out, here is the link - https://www.freshtracks.tv/

Loving the show so far! Especially enjoying the steel guitar in the soundtrack. Seriously. Also like the b/w photos at the end. Glad I subscribed.

 

[PizzaKittensGalaxyForce]

Wow. 50:1. That's a lot of whittling. Since you've got your own platform now, any chance of some "Cutting room floor" clips/outtakes a la the old Bill Dance clips? ha!

My son has been a story teller since BEFORE he could talk. I have a video of him at about 2 y/o sitting on the couch telling us 'how it is' before he could even make real words, but he didn't let that stop him. It's been a big change for me - a professional wallflower - to deal with him wanting to be out front of everything. We're getting it figured out though.

As an editor we leave A LOT of footage on the cutting room floor. There are always smaller stories or events that have to be left out. A lot of editing is spent arguing with yourself about what should stay or what should be cut so that the story is coherent and moves at a pace that is conducive not only for enjoyable entertainment, but informative content as well.

We have indeed discussed about bonus content being released that includes stuff that was cut and also behind the scenes videos. These are definitely options we have taken into consideration.

There are a lot of career paths when it comes to storytelling, and I find it very rewarding. It's always encouraging to hear about younger generations embracing it too.

 

[jt4]

Are you able to download the episodes so that they're able to be watched offline? This would be great for the plane.

 

[RaiderRich]

A question and on topic, I was able to download the Android app on my Sony TV in the bedroom. Yay! My family room TV is a little older a Samsung KS, was near top of the line when I bought it but it does not use Android or iOS, my issue there, I do plan on upgrading that TV in the future. So the question, I do have PlayStation 4 consoles, one being connected to the family room TV, any plans to offer game console versions of the Fresh Tracks+ app? Maybe they are available in the PS Store, I have not looked in a few days.

Just curious.

Thanks for the great content!

 

[Cornell2012]

Are you able to download the episodes so that they're able to be watched offline? This would be great for the plane.

On the phone and tablet apps, we do offer the ability to download episodes. You need to go to the video, then once the video is playing, pause it. In the overlay on the upper right corner there should be a download button. As far as I am aware, you are able to download anything in Fresh Tracks+ to your device.

 

[Cornell2012]

A question and on topic, I was able to download the Android app on my Sony TV in the bedroom. Yay! My family room TV is a little older a Samsung KS, was near top of the line when I bought it but it does not use Android or iOS, my issue there, I do plan on upgrading that TV in the future. So the question, I do have PlayStation 4 consoles, one being connected to the family room TV, any plans to offer game console versions of the Fresh Tracks+ app? Maybe they are available in the PS Store, I have not looked in a few days.

Just curious.

Thanks for the great content!

Unfortunately we are not able to build for Playstation or Xbox. I use my PS4 for watching most content, so I feel your pain. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've been very happy with the Roku that I got to test the apps, especially if you compare the price to something like an Apple TV. I've mostly switched over to using the Roku, mostly because I don't have to worry about keeping a controller charged (and certain apps on my PS4 don't work well, like HBO will kick me out after about an hour of watching anything and become non-functional until I restart it all).

 

[RobG]

Funny to see film jargon like "footage on the cutting room floor."

 

[RaiderRich]

Funny to see film jargon like "footage on the cutting room floor."

Also referred to as future outtakes

 

[RobG]

I loved that history in those videos. I have some too. When I moved back to Bozeman I joined the board of the local Trout Unlimited chapter as secretary. After a few years we were in a meeting trying to think of people to recruit as new board members. One name that I didn't recognize came up and a guy who'll I call Shish Kabob Fry responded "Oh man, he is full walleye. Got a boat and everything."

Everyone was shocked because at that time there was a lot of conflict between the trout and walleye folks. The mood was like they just heard a friend had died.

"He's also trying to do a hunting show," Shish Kabob continued. Folks were even more dumbfounded. "Yeah, it looks like it might even work," he finished, chuckling a bit.

That was quite a few years ago. @Big Fin had a goal and made it work. You have to admire that.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Figure close to a half hour of raw footage captured for each minute of video. Example, when we went to BC, Marcus came back with 50+ hours of footage for an episode that ended up being 40 minutes long. If it is something we can script and shoot in a controlled setting, it is more like a 5:1 or 10:1 ratio, rather than the 50+:1 ratio on our hunts.

Sounds like your son has an eye for storytelling. Encourage him. You will enjoy the end product.

So, what you are saying is . . . there are at least 5 hours of film of Uncle Larry swearing that the world has yet to see . . .

 

[bschwein]

Looking forward to see where you go with this new option and all the content that will be included.

 

[HONEYBADGER]

I'm not familiar with LG specifically. If there is an app store you can try to search for the app there. If not, your best bet will be to open it on web and then share it to your TV (Chromecast and Airplay are common). If you have an iPad or iPhone, you can potentially airplay it from the mobile app if your TV supports it.

You can also look into getting something like a Roku Express for about $25-30. I bought a variety of different devices so that I could test the apps out in production and Roku is by far the one I would choose if buying for myself, especially for the fairly modest price point. It seems to just work better and is more responsive than the smart TV function of my TV.

Sorry I don't have a better answer. There are so many different devices out there and we are limited to what we can build for.

Google Chromecast, plug it into your LG and use the Google TV features. Fresh Tracks+ is available through that. I have an LG TV and that is what I did, works great.