I’ve been talking about it for months and then I finally did it. I filmed an unboxing of my monthly The Bookish Box! I’ve been thinking of starting a booktube (YouTube channel dedicated to books/bookish things) and I made the executive decision to make it happen. I created the account, filmed the video, edited it using Final Cut Pro, and posted it this past Sunday! I have linked the unboxing video right here!
I’ve always loved unboxings both on bookstagram and BookTube. Even on booktok (the section of TikTok dedicated to books/bookish things), there are unboxings of the different monthly subscriptions that are offered from a variety of companies. FairyLoot, Illumicrate, Beacon Book Box, The Bookish Box, and more.
I was able to activate a subscription for Illumicrate (I finally got off the waitlist!) and will receive my first box in July (it’s for the month of June, but some of the suppliers were delayed). I knew I wanted to film an unboxing of that box when it came in the mail, so I started with my May Bookish Box! The theme was Story Wanderlust and the book of the month was Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard. It was a lot of fun to react to each item in the box for the first time on film. I really enjoyed the items within the box and loved being able to tag the creators responsible in the description of the video and also on my bookstagram.
I also got to use Final Cut Pro for the first time! When I bought my laptop, I was still in college. There was a student bundle available from Apple where I could purchase all five of their “premier” applications and have them available on my laptop when I received it for a heavy discount. The applications included are: Final Cut Pro, MainStage, Compressor, Motion, and Logic Pro!
I watched a few videos on YouTube about how to edit using Final Cut Pro and felt like those videos helped me a lot. I was able to use the different controls easily and make all of the adjustments that I wanted to make. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! I loved being able to control all of the timing and the captions along with figuring out to use to copyright-free music and more.
Overall, it was a fun experience. Filming only took me thirty or so minutes (with all of the retakes when I stuttered or made a verbal mistake!), but editing ended up taking me a few days. Putting together all of the time editing and making sure that my BookTube account was up and running, I would estimate about five or so hours of work. The best part was that it didn’t even feel like work! I was truly enjoying what I was doing and was already making mental notes about what I should do for my next videos.
I’m very, very excited for July because I have a lot of bookish mail coming in! I was finally able to get a FairyLoot subscription and my first box will be the July one. I was so happy when I heard that I finally got off the waitlist because the book that they will be doing in July is one of my books that I was excited for! I can’t wait to see their stunning edition.
All in all, I think I have five unboxings to film and edit during the month of July, depending on each shipping schedule for each of the companies. I can’t wait to see everything that has to come and can’t wait to start filming! Thank you so much for reading!
Love,
Kaitlin
Kaitlin H Powell 