Behind the scenes at Craftsy


Pictured from left to right above: Liz Gipson (Producer), me, James (guy who sat watching 4 screens in the back corner of the room) and Joe Baran (Videographer).

It's been just over a month since my Tunisian Crochet class went live on Craftsy and I've had a few questions about the experience. This is a "behind the scenes" post to give you an idea of what it is like to film a class for Craftsy.

I really had a blast filming the class and I am proud of the result. One of the biggest contributing factors in the success of the class is the calibre of the team I got to work with.

In March of this year, Craftsy flew me out to their studios in Denver to do the filming.  The filming took about 3 days in all (from about 8am in the morning to 6pm).  We shot about 3 lessons per day with a quick break for lunch. The studio is about the size of a large living room, and in those 10 hours a day I essentially lived in that room with the crew who were doing the filming.  

But more important than just the filming, the crew were also the "first-line students" of the video course. As an instructor, I not only relied on them to tell me if I had remnants of my lunch stuck in my teeth, but also to ensure that what I was saying actually made sense. Each one of them were watching and listening to every word I said and every move I made - letting me know when I needed to shoot something again, whether the joke I'd just made was too over-the-top, or cheering me on when I'd nailed it and done a good job. I couldn't have asked for a better team.